Revival II: Shadow Games
by MyAibou
Summary: After the tournament takes a potentially deadly turn, the gang learns they might be facing a new kind of Shadow Game. End of series spoilers. YxT, JxM, mild MKxRH, hints at TTxSxDD. Edited to fix the Pharaoh's name. Blame Lucidscreamer.
1. The Island

**REVIVAL**

**PART II: SHADOW GAMES**

**Summary:** After the tournament takes a potentially deadly turn, the gang learns they might be facing a new kind of Shadow Game. **End of series spoilers.** YugixTéa, JoeyxMai, mild MokubaxRebecca, hints at TristanxSerenityxDuke.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Yu-gi-oh_ or its characters; Kazuki Takahashi does. I'm just taking them for a joy ride. I promise to put them back when I'm done.

**Rating: **T for mild language, violence, suggestive content.

**A word about continuity (such as it is):** This story mostly follows the dubbed American Kids WB version because that's what I watch with my kids. So sue me. ;) That said, whenever it suits my purposes, I borrow from the original Japanese version (gleaned from episode guides on the brilliant _Yu-Jyo_ site, _Janime_, and _False Memories_ – e-mail me if you want the links) or the manga. For example, Yugi and Téa were childhood friends, as in the manga, even though in the American version a flashback shows Yugi and Joey deciding they should get to know her after the boys are already friends. Basically, wherever there is a conflict between the American, Japanese, and manga, I go with whatever I like best. :) Events referred to that have not yet aired in the U.S. (some of the Memory World/Dawn of the Duel arc) I got from _Janime _and_ False Memories._

**Oh, and about Mai's age:** I've fanwanked her about five years younger because the idea of a woman in her mid-twenties falling for a 15-year-old kid is a bit too Mary Kay Letourneau for me (shudder). I have her at about 19 when she first met the others on the boat to Duelist Kingdom and yes, there is an explanation for the discrepancy between this and canon.

**

* * *

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**1. The Island**

Yugi slept in fits and starts on the small lifeboat after it was launched from their doomed cruise ship, the _USS Chrysaor_. Since the ship had not been at full capacity due to the limits the dueling tournament that had charted it had placed on the number of invitees and guests, the lifeboats were not terribly crowded. Counting the duelists, guests, officials, and a diminished crew because of the fewer passengers, there had only been around four hundred fifty people total on the ship. The lifeboats, built to seat up to a hundred people, were each carrying around forty-five, which left some space to stretch out a little; nevertheless, it was not exactly roomy and adrenaline was high, so no one really slept much.

At about four AM, a little more than an hour after they'd launched from the ship, the sun rose. By seven o'clock the sun was fairly high above the horizon and Yugi watched as the _Chrysaor _submerged completely. He ached for Téa and felt guilty about not personally seeing to it that Rebecca got safely onto a lifeboat. He wanted to see all his friends, actually; though he knew they were safe on another boat, he wished fervently he'd been allowed to return to his own muster station and be on the same lifeboat with them, as he had no idea how long it would be before they were found and could be reunited.

"Morning, Yugi-boy, sleep well?"

Yugi looked up to find Pegasus sitting beside him.

"Not really, no."

"Me neither," Pegasus whispered. "I was listening to the crew on the two-way earlier. It's much worse than we feared."

"Worse than _sinking?"_

"It seems more than just the engines were sabotaged," Pegasus said. "Around one thirty this morning the bridge crew discovered the instruments had been tampered with. We were off course, but no one knows how far or in which direction. Then they tried to radio for help and all communication systems were down. All of the lifeboat radios, search-and-rescue transponders, and position-indicating beacons were also destroyed. Only the short-range two-ways that the crewmembers carry on their persons are working. And every single lifeboat is low on fuel, even though they were all checked before we left port."

Yugi vaguely remembered seeing crewmembers rushing toward the bridge when he was out walking, before he'd run into Téa. "All of that couldn't possibly have been done before we set sail. Whoever did this had to have been on board!"

"I rather suspect whoever did the dirty work is a henchman rather than the actual person responsible," Pegasus answered.

Yugi frowned, thoughtful. "Weevil Underwood said something odd Sunday night at dinner. He threatened me and Joey. On the ship to Duelist Kingdom he threw my Exodia cards overboard and the other night he said 'next time it won't be just your cards.' And then when the pursers threatened to put them off the ship, Rex seemed almost anxious to be thrown off, but when they were threatened with the brig, Weevil balked."

Kaiba, who in typical attitude of entitlement was lying down taking up most of the bench behind them, seemingly asleep, scoffed, "You don't seriously think those two imbeciles are capable of anything as complex as sabotaging a ship's navigation and communication systems and blowing up the engines? I'm surprised they can dress themselves in the morning."

"True. But they did both join up with Dartz three years ago. You never know what they might be capable of under the right direction."

"We probably should keep an eye on them," Pegasus agreed. "But the more pressing problem is that with all communications and navigation down _before _the ship sank, not only do we not know where we are, we couldn't radio for help. No one even knows we're missing."

"We were supposed to dock at Ketchikan this morning. They'll know we're missing when we don't show up," Kaiba pointed out.

"But they won't know when we went missing or where," Yugi said.

"The last contact the _Chrysaor _had with anyone was several hours before the explosion. That's a lot of ocean to search, and if we're off course we're not in the section they'll be searching," Pegasus agreed. "Even with flares and all that, the Pacific Ocean is a big place, especially when you're not where you're supposed to be and you don't know where you are, and without much fuel, we can't get very far on our own. Whoever did this did an excellent job of making sure we wouldn't be found for quite some time."

"Well that's cheerful news to wake up to," Kaiba said.

"Never fear, Kaiba-boy, I have good news as well. One of the boats spotted an island, so at least we won't be cooped up in these boats waiting for rescue. We'll be there within the hour, assuming the fuel holds out."

That was good news to Yugi. It meant he'd be reunited with Téa and the others in less than an hour. Kaiba, however, didn't seem impressed.

"How wonderful. Stranded on an island with Pegasus and the Dweeb Patrol."

"You must be anxious to see Mokuba," Yugi pointed out.

"Hm," was all Kaiba said in response.

"As soon as you can, round up all your little fan club and we'll have a nice chat," Pegasus instructed.

"Why wait?" Kaiba asked, finally sitting up. "Why don't you tell us more now?"

"Think, Kaiba-boy. Do you really want me to give away everything I know where we could easily be overheard?"

"I want to know what's going on sooner rather than later!" Kaiba growled.

"You'll know everything soon enough."

They fell silent and before long Yugi could see the outline of land in the distance. As they got closer, he could make out dark cliffs, trees, and a narrow beach. It didn't seem very inviting, but then this was the North Pacific, not some tropical island.

"Maybe there will be caves in those cliffs that would make good shelter alternative to the boats," he overheard one crewmember tell another, "and we can keep a fire going on the beach as a rescue signal."

As Pegasus had predicted, they made it to the island in under an hour. The crew let the passengers off the lifeboats onto the cold and misty beach, instructing them to stay near the shore and not wander off. They would pull the lifeboats up onto the beach well out of the tide and afterwards the captain would call a meeting of all the passengers and crew to distribute some of the rations for breakfast and to review their situation, plan their course of action, and divvy up jobs to explore the island for inhabitants and to secure food and water. Yugi, anxious to find his friends, headed down the beach searching the other lifeboats, Kaiba behind him.

Almost immediately he spotted Duke, his shock of black hair standing out against the bleak sky and gray sand. After a few more steps he could also see Mokuba, Rebecca, and Téa standing with him. "There they are," Yugi pointed out the group to Kaiba.

Mokuba spotted them at that moment. "Seto!" he called out, drawing both Rebecca's and Téa's attention.

"Yugi!" both girls cried out in unison.

Rebecca took off at a sprint toward them and hurtled herself at Yugi. Clinging to his neck, she buried her head in his shoulder.

"Yugi! I'm so glad you're here!" she said, her voice muffled by his jacket. "Why didn't you come on our boat with us?"

Yugi hugged her hard, guilt washing over him anew. "I'm sorry, Rebecca, I went to talk to Pegasus about what was going on. You're okay, right? Téa and Duke made sure you got to the lifeboat safely?"

He felt her nod into his shoulder, and then she let go and took a step back. As soon as she did, Téa was there in the space Rebecca had just vacated. Wrapping her arms around him, she gave him a long, deep kiss. He was so happy to see her, so glad she was safe and they were together again, he didn't even think to be self-conscious or get embarrassed about the fact they were surrounded by a large number of people, including their friends.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said when they parted.

"Me too," he replied. Tearing his eyes from hers but keeping his arm protectively around her waist, he looked for the rest of his friends. Duke clasped his hand briefly, but the only other person he saw was Serenity pacing up and down the beach looking out to sea.

"Where's Joey and Tristan?" he asked Téa, alarmed.

"They're on another boat with Mai. Joey disappeared and Tristan and Mai found him in the gym, which was pretty wrecked," Téa explained.

"What?" Yugi cried, but before she could elaborate, Serenity called out Joey's name and took off at a run toward the water. Yugi looked in the direction she was running and breathed a sigh of relief.

Tristan, Joey, and Mai, wrapped in blankets, were heading slowly up the beach toward them.

**

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**

Joey, still cold and damp despite the fleece-lined nylon jacket one of the crewmembers had found for him in the lifeboat's provisions, clung tightly to the blanket wrapped around his shoulders over the jacket as he walked up the beach behind Tristan, looking for the rest of their friends. Mai trudged behind them.

"How's the ankle?" she asked him.

"Pretty good," Joey replied. "I think it was the cold more than my foot that made it hard to stand last—HEY!" he cried out as he ran into Tristan, also damp and wrapped in a blanket, who had stopped short in front of him.

"Well, that's new," Tristan said, a note of amusement in his voice.

"What's new? What are you talking about?" Joey asked, trying to follow Tristan's gaze through the mist.

"Yugi and Téa kissing," Tristan answered.

Then Joey saw them a distance up the beach, Yugi and Téa, locked in a kiss. "AwRIGHT!" he shouted, pumping his fist into the air. "Way to go Yuge!"

"Wait," Mai said stopping. "That's _new? _You've _got _to be kidding me. What has it been, like five years in the making? I've seen glaciers move faster."

Tristan coughed something that sounded to Joey like "Pot… Kettle," and Joey gave him a brusque elbow in the ribs. Then he quickly jumped to his friends' defense. Although Joey himself had expressed a similar sentiment to Yugi just the night before, he wasn't about to let Mai get away with it.

"Well you can hardly blame them for taking their time. The Pharaoh made things pretty complicated."

He saw her stiffen at the mention of the Pharaoh. "Right," she said tersely, "I forgot." She started walking again up the beach in silence.

Joey and Tristan exchanged puzzled looks as they followed behind her. That was the second time she reacted badly to the mention of the Pharaoh. Joey was about to ask her about it when he heard someone scream his name. Looking back up the beach he saw Serenity dashing toward them. A wide smile broke out on his face as his sister threw herself into his arms, knocking the blanket off his shoulders.

"Oh Joey, you're all right, thank God you're all right," she murmured.

"I'm okay," he assured her. "How about you, you okay?"

"I'm fine, I was just so worried about you! Don't ever do that again!" she scolded, and then she let go of him and flung herself on a very startled Mai. "Thank you, Mai, thank you for finding him," she said.

Mai recovered from her surprise and said, "Hey, I promised, didn't I?"

Serenity nodded. She stepped back and held out her left arm and Joey realized for the first time that she was wearing a duel disk. She pulled it off her arm and handed it to Mai. "You said you'd want this back when you found my brother," she said solemnly as if completing an important ritual, then pulled a backpack off her back and also handed that over.

Mai jerked her head in acceptance and put the duel disk on her own arm and the backpack over her shoulder. Then it was Tristan's turn for Serenity's attention. "Tristan!" she cried, burying her face in his neck. "I can't believe I was so mean to you the other day. I'm _so_ sorry! Thank you, thank you so much for saving my brother."

By this time the others were there as well, surrounding Joey in a mass of hugs. Joey couldn't help but notice Serenity held on to Tristan longer than he cared for, and he might have stopped to say something, but he saw Tristan shoot Duke a smug look over Serenity's shoulder and he couldn't help but laugh in spite of himself. His sister and his friends were all safe and all together again. Nothing else mattered. Téa pulled him into a tight bear hug, dragging his attention away from Serenity and Tristan.

"Don't you ever scare us like that again, Joey Wheeler!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, I just wanted to play some basketball. How was I supposed to know the place was going to _explode?"_

"Okay, I suppose we can let you off the hook this time," Téa laughed, breaking free. "Oh, I have something for you," she said, and Joey saw that she, too had a duel disk on her arm. "Tristan grabbed this from the room and asked me to hold it for you when he went looking for you." She pulled it off her arm and handed it to him.

"My deck!" he said happily, taking the disk from her. "I thought it was gone for good!" His eyes sought out Tristan, who had finally let go of Serenity. Joey held up his duel disk. "Hey Tristan, thanks!" he called out.

Tristan nodded. "I told you I've always got your back."

As they finished greeting each other, a very harried looking Mr. Goradon came over to join them. "Ah good, good, glad to see you all made it safely. Horrible, isn't it? Just horrible."

Not sure if he was really looking for a response or not, they all just sort of mumbled their agreement.

"Listen, I want to gather all the remaining sixteen duelists as soon as we get a chance," he said. "Of course that includes you, Mr. Mutou, and you too Mr. Kaiba," he nodded at each of them in turn, "and I believe several of the rest of you as well?"

"Why? What's this about?" Joey asked.

"Well, if everyone managed to save their decks off the ship, and I see most of you have yours," he confirmed, looking at the duel disks on their arms, "then I would like to begin right away with arrangements to continue the tournament here on the island."

Yugi gaped at him. "You're not serious!"

"Don't you think we have more important things to worry about right now?" Joey cried. The rest of them looked equally taken aback, with the exception of Kaiba, who merely raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

"I'm absolutely serious," Goradon replied. "I think it would keep our morale up, don't you think?"

"Finding food and water and, you know, maybe getting _rescued_ would do more for my morale than dueling," Mai shot back.

"Yes, yes of course," Goradon said hastily. "We'll attend to all the necessities first. But really, I think as long as we're able to, we should continue with the tournament to keep things lively while we wait to be rescued. Imagine the boon this could be for the game! Not rain nor sleet nor shipwreck can keep these World Championship duelists from their game."

"Boon for the _game?" _Joey said incredulously. "Are you completely off your nut?"

If Mr. Goradon recognized the insult, he gave no indication. "No, no. Just make sure you see me as soon as the ship's crew has had a chance to take attendance or whatever it is they plan on doing. I'll look for you all later," he finished, hurrying off again.

"That has to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," Téa objected angrily. "Who cares about the stupid _tournament _right now?"

"The IDMTC _has _to care," Kaiba remarked. "It's how they make a living. He's looking at it from a marketing angle, like any businessman."

"Like any _businessman?"_ Joey seethed.

"Do I need to use smaller words, Wheeler?" Kaiba sniffed.

Joey clenched his fists, trying to ignore Kaiba's taunts. "Kaiba, you don't actually think we should care about a stupid card game tournament when we're shipwrecked in the middle of nowhere!"

"Pay attention, Wheeler. I didn't say _I_ cared. I said _Goradon _had to care. It doesn't really matter to me whether we finish the tournament here or back in San Francisco after we're rescued." He gave Yugi a pointed look.

Joey shook his head. Even after everything that had happened, Kaiba was actually still thinking about beating Yugi. _Yuge should just let him win one of these days so he can move on with his life already, _he thought irritably. Before he or Yugi or anyone else could respond, however, one of the crewmembers came over to them.

"Listen everyone, we want all of the tournament competitors to gather in your tournament division groups along with your guests. That will be the most organized way to take attendance and make sure everyone's accounted for. Then the captain will explain our situation and where we go from here."

The meeting was surprisingly short. The captain summarized their state of affairs while other crewmembers passed out some rations from the lifeboat giving them a small but welcomed breakfast. While they ate, he explained that they had been off course and lost all long-range communications. It was starting to become clear to the rest of the passengers that this had not been an accident and the captain hastened to assure them that the crew was ready and able to take whatever measures necessary to ensure everyone's safety from whoever was responsible, but that their primary concern at the moment was survival and rescue, not catching terrorists. That would be the responsibility of U.S. Homeland Security once they were rescued.

"We have ample provisions for a few days. The lifeboats each had enough military-style MRE rations to feed a hundred people for two days. Since each boat only carried about half that, we should easily be able to stretch it to four days, but we need to find fresh water and food to last beyond the provisions," he explained. He then went on to detail how they could use the beached lifeboats as shelter as they were covered and weatherproof and would be warmer than anything they could cobble together, but as they would be a little cramped, it also seemed advisable to look for caves or something else that might make roomier shelter for over four hundred people.

Last he explained the tasks that would be divided up among the passengers and crew. One group would be responsible for trying to secure some fish for dinner, a job Joey thought Mako Tsunami would be particularly well-suited for. Another group would look for other edibles on the island, a third would be responsible for finding fresh water, and a forth would begin building some fires and setting up a campsite and start working on ways to draw attention from ships and planes.

"And finally, I'm going to send five of my crew with a group of thirty or forty of you to hike over to the far side of the island, see if there's any signs of civilization, and look for possible alternative shelter locations."

He clapped his hands. "Okay. Let's take about half an hour to finish eating and rest up a bit, and my crew will start dividing you up into groups and give you your assignments. Thank you for your cooperation. Together we will get through this."


	2. Forgiveness and Trust

**2. Forgiveness and Trust**

Mai munched on a granola bar from her own stash while the captain spoke, anxious for him to finish so she could take a walk alone before the crew started handing out jobs. She wanted to make sure she was not assigned to the same task as anyone from Joey's circle of friends. At least they had been grouped by tournament divisions for the little lecture, and none of them were in her division.

It'd been nice, she admitted with some self-reproach, being with him on the lifeboat. A part of her wanted to think that maybe helping Tristan save his life would put her in a better light, but she didn't want to harbor any false hopes, and the comment from Joey about how the Pharaoh had complicated everything for Téa and Yugi reminded her that they hadn't cut _him _a break, and he'd certainly deserved it more than she did. The best thing for her to do, then, was to go back to keeping herself as far removed from them as possible until they could get off this godforsaken island and get home and she could work on forgetting him once and for all.

Finally, the captain finished talking and released them for a half hour break. She stretched and looked up and down the beach. They were surrounded by woods and cliffs. A walk near the woods, maybe, while she waited for one of the crew to give her a job.

"Ah, Miss Valentine!" a somewhat shrill voice called out and she sighed, screwing on an airy smile as she turned to face the Tournament Commission president.

"Yes, Mr. Goradon?"

"I would like all the remaining competitors to meet over there by that group of rocks, if you would."

She fought to keep from rolling her eyes. "Now? Don't you think we should at least wait until we've all gotten our group assignments and taken care of things like water and food?"

"Oh, this won't take long," he assured her, ushering her in the direction of the rocks in question.

_Great. Right back with Joey and Yugi and their little club._

It took about five minutes for everyone to gather, sixteen duelists plus a few of their guests. There was, of course, Joey and Yugi along with Téa, Tristan, Serenity, and Duke. The Kaiba brothers, naturally. Yugi's friend Rebecca. That weird fish freak Mako Tsunami. Pegasus and his henchman Croquet. Alrik Cronhielm. Raul Pérez and his girlfriend Renata Reis. That prissy German guy Zigfried von Schroeder and his significantly less prissy brother, Leon. Christine Aileas. Lawrence Andrews. Kenan Bagatui and his wife, Makena. Renée Carole. That revolting Jacques Rousseau, the French duelist she'd seen in many European tournaments. And of course, Mr. Goradon and another tournament official.

"Wonderful, wonderful!" Mr. Goradon enthused when they were all there. "First I want to say how happy I am that everyone made it off the ship alive and well. I am so relieved to know that we did not lose one person to such a horrible accident.

_No, you just almost did, thanks to the stupid crew, _Mai thought bitterly, glancing at Joey.

"What accident?" Zigfried von Schroeder drawled in his thick German accent, tossing his long, pink hair over his shoulder. "I was under the impression that someone sabotaged the ship."

"Ah, yes," Mr. Goradon sputtered a bit. "Well, that of course will be the concern of U.S. Homeland Security once we're rescued, as the captain said. But anyway, I wanted to speak to all of you about continuing the tournament right here. I think it would be a great morale boost for the crowd and huge holographic duel monsters hovering over the beach couldn't hurt our chances of getting spotted by a plane or ship, either.

_Okay, he actually has a point on that last one, _Mai conceded.

Kenan Bagatui, a thin but muscular man with skin the color of black coffee politely raised his hand. "Mr. Goradon? Do you think that perhaps our efforts would be better spent on more pressing matters?"

"Afraid you can't cut it?" Jacques Rousseau spat.

Kenan just smiled. "I am merely suggesting that perhaps Duel Monsters should not be our first priority under these circumstances." Mai decided she liked Kenan.

"No one is suggesting it is our _first _priority," Goradon quickly assured him, although it was obvious to everyone that it very definitely was _his _first priority. "I am merely suggesting that once our survival needs are secured, we could pass the time _and _help quicken our rescue by continuing the tournament. I assume all sixteen division semi-finalists have their decks?"

Mai looked around and did, indeed, see at least sixteen duel disks, including her own, attached to sixteen arms.

"Good, good! Then what do you say? Shall we continue with the tournament?"

There were a few nods and a few skeptical looks.

"Mr. Pegasus? As tournament host, what do you think?" Goradon asked, clearly hoping for backup.

Mai looked at Pegasus with interest, suddenly realizing how unusual it was that he'd remained quiet this whole time, letting Goradon do all the talking. "Well, Mr. Goradon, I think—"

"All right folks!" a voice interrupted, and they turned to see Evan Haines along with the cruise director—Amy something, Mai remembered—approach. She couldn't help but glare at him coldly, remembering how he'd nearly prevented her and Tristan from reaching Joey in time.

"Dude, that's the guy who—" she heard Tristan grumble, then shut his mouth quickly when he realized Joey was next to him.

Joey was also giving Evan a hard look, and at first Mai wondered why since he couldn't possibly know about Evan stopping them on the stairs, but then she remembered he'd also been the one to intervene when Joey had tried to talk to her last night after dinner. Joey's gaze moved from Evan to Mai and she looked away quickly.

"It's time to figure out who's going to do what tasks," Evan was saying.

"I'm sorry, but we were having a little meeting here," Mr. Goradon stopped him. "Could we do this later?"

Evan gave Goradon an incredulous look. "Uh, I'm sorry, Mr. Goradon sir, but I wasn't aware you had more pressing matters to attend to than our survival."

"Not more pressing, no," Goradon backpedaled furiously, and Mai couldn't help but warm back up to Evan just a bit for making that stuffed shirt squirm. "I just wanted a moment to talk with my top duelists here."

Evan crossed his arms and eyed him angrily. "Well I'll tell you what, Mr. Goradon. I'll give you and these vaunted 'top duelists' of yours all the time you'd like—"

"Thank you, I knew you'd understand."

"I'm not finished," Evan said. "You and your whole group here can join me and Amy here and about ten other people I have enlisted to hike to the other end of the island to look for signs of people and some alternative shelter. Then you can have all the time in the world for your little meeting while we're hiking."

Mai's eyes widened. A hike around the island in the same group with Joey and his friends? No thanks!

Many of the others seemed equally unhappy with the suggestion. Jacques Rousseau, Raul Pérez, Zigfried von Schroeder, and Kaiba all indicated in various ways that they were above such tasks. Mako Tsunami protested that his talents were put to better use fishing for dinner—an assessment with which Mai heartily agreed. Joey whined about his ankle, although he'd told Mai and Tristan not an hour earlier that it was fine.

"You know what?" Evan said heatedly, silencing them. "I don't care! I cannot believe the arrogance of you people! It's just a _game _but you act like you're big heroes or something, saving the world!"

Mai couldn't help but raise her eyebrow at Yugi and Joey at this comment. She saw Joey and Tristan smirk at each other while Yugi's face remained expressionless. _If you only knew, Evan._

"All of you, you're going on a hike. Gather at the lifeboats in ten minutes to get water canteens and some food."

For a moment, Mai briefly considered flirting with Evan to get him to reassign her, but not only had she already done that too much with him, she was still too mad about the night before to pull it off. _I guess that's that,_ she thought, resigned, as she headed back down the beach toward the lifeboats.

As she left the little alcove, she saw Pegasus pull Yugi and Kaiba aside and suddenly it hit her. _Pegasus! _How could she be so stupid to not have thought of it before? Yugi and Kaiba hadn't been with the others in their muster station last night because they'd gone to see Pegasus. He must know something about what was happening! She wondered if maybe he even had something to do with it, although she doubted he would put himself in harm's way.

Burning with curiosity, she dragged her eyes away from the three of them and made her way to the lifeboats. When they got there, she watched as Yugi gathered his gang together. She was about to turn away when she was surprised to see him motion her over as well. She debated a moment whether or not to ignore him, but curiosity won out over pride and she joined them.

"Pegasus wants to talk to all of us," Yugi told them without preamble when Mai, Joey, Tristan, Téa, Serenity, Duke, and Rebecca were all there. "He thinks he knows why the ship was sabotaged."

"So why was I invited to this little party?" Mai asked. "I don't think Pegasus really wants to see me."

"He invited you to this tournament, didn't he?" Yugi replied. "This concerns everyone who has been involved in a Shadow Game."

Mai went rigid. _Shadow Game? _Before she could respond, however, Joey jumped in.

"Shadow Game? We closed the Shadow Realm two years ago! What do Shadow Games have to do with any of this?"

"That's what we're going to find out," Yugi replied.

_Shadow Games!_ Mai thought, feeling shaky as her nightmare came flooding back. She closed her eyes, trying to push back the image of the hourglass and all that _sand, _while Joey and his friends ignored her, happily playing on the beach below.

"Mai?"

She opened her eyes to see Joey looking at her in concern. _Great._ Screwing on a smile, she answered, "Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"Never better," she said, turning away from him. _Damn._

Fortunately, Evan arrived then, offering a distraction. He was leading a smaller group over to join them.

"Oh you've got to be _kidding _me, not _those _two," she heard Joey grumble, then almost groaned herself when she saw Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood among them. Also there was an Australian duelist named Michael Hardy who had been in her division and had lost in the second round; a young Japanese teenager she recognized as Sho Inoue, an up-and-comer on the Asian circuit; Amy-the-cruise-director and three more pursers in uniform, plus three passengers—two men and one woman—whom Mai didn't know.

Evan gathered them all together and began doling out one water canteen and three MREs apiece. He also had ten flashlights and two two-way radios that he gave out randomly—Mai got one of each because she had a backpack to carry them in—and some other provisions, like matches and a first aid kit, the latter of which Sho Inoue, also with a backpack, got to carry. Three other passengers had backpacks as well: Michael Hardy, Kenan Bagatui, and Mako Tsunami, plus each crew member had a pack of gear with the cruise line's logo on it. They were all given a little extra food to carry for everyone in addition to the MREs, blankets, and several large thermoses of water.

When they were all organized, Evan explained that they would head around the island to the north, following the coastline as best they could. They were looking for signs of civilization—a long shot, Mai thought—shelter possibilities, or anything else that might be useful to know about the island. For a while he wanted them to stick to whatever path they could find, keeping the coastline in sight, but eventually they would fan out to cover more ground. Finally, they set out.

As they made their way off the beach and toward the cliffs to the north, the going got rockier. Their band of thirty-eight stretched out, walking at different paces. Seeing that Goradon was working the crowd, trying to drum up enthusiasm for continuing the tournament, Mai deliberately hung back from the rest of them.

To her chagrin, Joey hung back as well.

"Hey Mai," he said, dropping back to walk beside her.

She stopped short and turned to face him. "Joey, what do you want from me?" she asked, feeling tired.

"I already told you, I just wanna _talk._"

"Why do you have to make this harder than it already is?"

"Why do _I…?" _he gaped.

"Just please, leave it alone." She started walking again, leaving him behind.

"That's your answer for everything, isn't it? To run away?"

She stopped and spun around again, annoyed. "Because I know what I did was unforgivable and it's too hard to be around you and know we can never be friends again!"

"So you get to decide all by yourself?" he demanded, his eyes on fire. "I don't even get a say? I don't think so, Mai. It's just the same thing all over again, where you push everyone away and then blame them. Well I'm not gonna let it happen this time. If you can't forgive yourself, that's your problem, but don't go telling me what I can and can't forgive!"

He folded his arms as he went on. "You said in your letter that you wanted to accept responsibility for your actions and not find someone else to blame, and here you're putting this on me, like _I'm_ keeping us from being friends, and that's a load of garbage. You said you were lonely because you refused to reach out to your friends. You said you wanted to be the person _you _wanted to be and not just what you think you have to be to look strong to others, but you're _still running away_. You want change? _Stop running away!_"

She cocked her head, looking at him in surprise. "You remember what I wrote in that letter almost three years ago?"

He threw up his hands in exasperation. "Are you kidding? I practically have the stupid thing memorized! I only carried around the thing for _three years _while I waited for you to be ready to face me."

This stunned her. "What? Why?"

He gave her an incredulous look. "Why do you _think? _After everything we've been through, Mai, how can you not know what you mean to me?"

She stood completely still, trying to process this, her heart pounding in her chest. _How much I mean to him? He couldn't possibly mean—_

"Are you bothering the lady again?"

Mai turned, startled by the interruption, to see that Evan had come up behind her. He went past her to confront Joey.

Joey clenched his fists and growled in frustration. "I AM NOT BOTHERING HER! I'M TRYING TO HAVE A CONVERSATION HERE!"

"That's enough!" Evan barked, grabbing Joey's arm, but Mai intervened.

"That's okay, Evan," she said rather frostily, "I've got this one."

Both Joey and the purser looked at her in surprise and Evan let go of Joey's arm. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Let's catch up with the others, Joey," she said, taking his wrist and pulling him away.

She couldn't help but notice Joey giving Evan a triumphant wave over his shoulder. "See ya, Evan!" he called out cheerily, to which Mai yanked on his arm harder than was strictly necessary.

When they were further up the path, she pulled him aside into the shelter of the trees and stopped, looking at him again. "Are you serious?"

"What am I, speaking Greek here? Why else would I have spent the last two days chasing you down on the ship?" He blew out a puff of air that sent his bangs flying momentarily out of his eyes. "When have I ever done anything to make you think I wouldn't forgive you? Why do you think I got into that duel with you in the first place? If I didn't give up on you then, why would I now?"

"You gave up on the Pharaoh, didn't you?" she shot back.

He stopped, looking confused. "What the _heck _are you talking about, Mai? You wanna fill me in here? Why do you keep freaking out over the Pharaoh?"

"Come on Joey, I'm not stupid! I know everyone thinks that that Puzzle is just some good luck charm that Yugi outgrew, but I know what it was and what it meant. You couldn't forgive him for what he did to Yugi back in California, could you?"

"Say what?" Joey cried. "Is that what you think? That Yugi got rid of the Puzzle because the Pharaoh played the Seal of Orichalcos and Yugi lost his soul? That he made a mistake and we just dropped him? He was our _friend!"_

"And it was more than just a mistake."

"Yeah, okay, it was a really _big _mistake, but so what? You don't just drop your friends because they screw up, Mai. Besides, we all got our souls back because of him. What kind of ungrateful jerks do you think we are?"

"Then where is he? Why doesn't Yugi have the Puzzle anymore?"

"It's a really long story."

"I've got time," she said.

"We'll lose the others."

She growled in frustration. "Fine," she said, pulling him by the arm again until they were back on the path. "Talk while we walk."

He did, explaining to her about how they had gone to Egypt and into something he called the Pharaoh's "memory world." It was a fantastic story and had she not lived through a Shadow Game and the whole Orichalcos nightmare, she wouldn't have believed it. He ended the story describing how Yugi defeated the Pharaoh in a Ceremonial Duel that sent him into the afterlife.

"Why?" she asked, when he was finished.

"Why what?"

"Why did Yugi duel him just to send him away?"

He rolled his eyes. "Not because of the Orichalcos, if that's what you're thinking. It was just time. His purpose here was finished and he didn't belong with us. He belonged in the spirit world or the afterlife or whatever that was. It's not like they could keep sharing one body forever. Kind of an awkward arrangement, don't you think?"

"True," she conceded. "It really wasn't because of the Orichalcos then?"

"ARRGH!" Joey growled. "Am I stuttering here? NO! It had nothing to do with the Orichalcos. We never held that against him!"

"Then why did Yugi sound so resentful about it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"At the ball the first night. He said I wasn't the only person who was irresponsible with the Seal of Orichalcos and he sounded so _bitter."_

Joey gave a deep sigh. "Ho boy, how do I explain this one? Okay, for some reason that no one but Téa seems to understand, Yugi has the Pharaoh's memories. So even though the Pharaoh is gone, he kinda isn't gone because he and Yugi are kinda the same. Argh. I know this makes no sense," he groaned in frustration. "It's like a part of him still is the Pharaoh. When he said that about you not being the only person who used the Seal of Orichalcos, he was trying to be on your side, Mai. He wasn't talking as someone who was the victim of the Orichalcos; he was talking as someone who'd _used _it. He was reminding Tristan that he'd screwed up, too, and we'd gotten past _that._ If he's bitter, it's at himself, not someone else."

He gave her a pointed look. "Sometimes it's harder to forgive yourself than others, don't you think?"

"I…" she stammered, stopping again. Joey stopped beside her, waiting for her to say more, but she didn't know what to say next. She tried again. "When I saw that he didn't have the Puzzle any more, I figured that the betrayal had been too much. And if _he _couldn't earn your forgiveness, how could _I _possibly…?" she trailed off and lowered her eyes.

Joey hunched down to put himself in her line of sight. "The thing about forgiveness, Mai, is that you _can't _earn it. You either get it or you don't. And you had it, right from the start. From before we ever even got into that duel. It's what you decide to do with it afterwards that matters. I learned that one from Yugi," he smiled.

"I ever tell you how Yugi and I became friends?" he asked, straightening up.

She lifted her face to meet his eyes again, giving him a sort of resigned smile. "No, but I have a feeling you're going to."

"Well, I wasn't always the upstanding guy you see before you."

She rolled her eyes.

"Tristan and I, well, we were kinda punks," he continued. "We thought we were tough and we liked to give kids that we thought were weak a hard time. Like Yugi."

"Somehow I've never thought of Yugi as weak."

"Yeah, well you've only known him since he beat Kaiba and all the 'King of Games' stuff. This was before he'd finished putting that Puzzle of his together. He was small and quiet and shy, and that translated to our dumb high school brains as weak. He'd been working on the Puzzle at school and we swiped it from him and played keep-away. Téa almost kicked our asses for it, too," he smirked.

"Good for her," Mai approved.

"So I palmed a piece of the puzzle. Not just any piece, either. The big middle piece, the one with the Eye of Horus engraved on it, only of course I didn't know then what it was. I was just mad that someone—a girl, no less—had stopped us from having our fun so I took the piece that looked the fanciest and threw it out the window into a canal. A really disgusting canal. Like a sewer."

"Nice."

"Yeah, like I said, I was kind of a punk. But you know what Yugi did next? If it'd been me, I woulda gotten revenge somehow. He's not a fighter, but he's a smart guy. He coulda figured out some way to get back at us. I thought he had, actually, because all the sudden me and Tristan have got this big guy coming after us saying he's Yugi's bodyguard. And this guy was _mean, _the kind of guy that smuggled weapons into school, not just a dumb jerk like me. He coulda killed us and probably wouldn'ta thought twice about it. But Yugi stopped him. _Yugi._ All five feet of him. He jumps in between us and this huge guy and takes the worst of it. And you know what he said? He called us his _friends._ After we'd given him such a hard time, he takes a beating for us and calls us his _friends."_

"Okay, is it just me or is that a little bit pathetic?" Mai said skeptically.

"Maybe," Joey replied, "but I tell you what, I never felt so small in my whole life. And after that, I wanted to be the kind of person that deserved a friend like that. So I jumped into that gross, disgusting canal and got the puzzle piece back for him."

"That's really sweet and all," Mai said sarcastically, "but is there a point to this little story?"

"Yeah, and I'll get to it if you keep your yap shut," he said, but with a fondness that made her feel very light. "The point is, we didn't _earn _his forgiveness. We definitely didn't deserve it, but we got it anyway because that's just the kinda guy Yugi is. And it changed us. Well, it changed me anyway. Tristan didn't really come around until a little later, but that's a whole 'nother story." He grinned at the memory. "Anyway, I ain't exactly in a position to be deciding who's good enough and who isn't to get forgiven."

She shook her head. "You aren't seriously comparing petty high school bullying to what I did…"

"I'm saying it doesn't _matter._ You're my friend whether you think you deserve it or not. What you do with that next is up to you. Me and Tristan didn't have to earn Yugi's forgiveness, but it made us want to earn his _trust._"

She felt the sarcasm drain from her as she sobered. "Can you ever trust me, then, Joey?" she asked.

"Hello, you just saved my life! But you have to stop running away. You have to trust _me _too. Can you do that?"

"I want to," she admitted. "It isn't easy for me, though. I haven't had a lot of people in my life I could trust."

"Including me," he said.

"Actually, I was mostly thinking of my father. You… you're the only person I've ever been able to really trust. "Well, you and your friends, I suppose."

"Except I blew it. I owe you an apology, too. I was a terrible friend to you after Battle City. First I'd lied to you about that dream I had, that you weren't in it, letting you think you weren't important to me when you were. Then after you left… you'd been through so much and I didn't even bother to check in with you afterwards to see how you were. No wonder you thought you were alone. But not anymore, Mai. I promise you, I will always be here for you. Count on it."

His gaze was so intense as he said this that it sent a thrill through her, but that warred with the guilt she felt over having blamed him before. "The decisions I made after Battle City were not your fault."

"No, but not letting you know how important you are to me is. So I'm telling you now." He grasped her shoulders, startling her. "You're important to me. I want you back in my life. Please," he added, softly.

She looked at him a moment, trying to figure out how he could possibly mean it. After everything she'd done, after the three long years she spent agonizing over how to face him again, could it be that simple? _I want you back in my life. _Just like that? She studied his face: his mop of hair always hanging in his eyes, the scratch down his cheek from the explosion, his brown eyes that always seemed to look right through her. She could see in those eyes that he meant every word, that she was somehow, impossibly, still important to him. Could she do any less than admit how incredibly important he was to her as well, how much she wanted him in her life too?

"I want that, too, Joey," she said at last. He smiled, and she returned it, but then a thought struck her and she frowned again. "But what about your friends? I'm not so sure they want me around."

Joey let go of her shoulders and slapped his forehead. "What did I just say? Do my friends sound like the kind of people who can't put the past behind them? They're cool with you, Mai. Don't worry."

"Even Tristan?" she asked doubtfully.

"You helped him save my life when the ship was going down. I think that might have caught his attention." Then Joey snickered. "Besides, after Serenity wouldn't speak to him for almost two days because he was hard on you. I don't think he's gonna risk hassling you again."

Mai cocked her head, amused. "I'll bet you _hated _that," she said dryly. "But poor Tristan! I hope someone set Serenity straight about what happened. She should know the truth."

"She knows, now anyway. She just doesn't care about ancient history any more than I do."

Mai nodded. "Okay then." She wasn't sure what to say next, wasn't even sure she trusted herself to speak. Her eyes caught his again and she was almost overwhelmed with the strength the emotions bubbling up in her, so she averted her eyes and looked down at her feet. _He's back in my life, I can't believe it, just like that, he's back in my life… _Then she realized that they were alone on the path. Her cheeks growing warm, she said, "Uh, we should probably catch up with the others."

"Yeah," he agreed. The started walking side by side, their shoulders brushing each other as they hiked.

"So Mai," he asked after they'd gone a little way. His tone of voice sounded odd, like he was trying too hard to keep it light. "You see Valon at all after California? I'm just curious," he added quickly when she raised an eyebrow at him. "You know, wondered if he still duels, that sort of thing."

She took a moment to answer. "I haven't seen him, no."

"Good," Joey said quietly looking straight ahead as they walked.

"What? There isn't enough forgiveness to go around for Valon, too?" she teased, both amused and a little elated at the display of jealousy.

"I didn't say that," he objected. "I just think it's better to forgive some people long distance. A reeeeaaaally long distance. A different hemisphere would be good," he said with a sideways glance at her.

She gave him a brilliant smile. "That works for me."


	3. Cut Off

**3. Cut Off**

The island, as it turned out, was much larger than it had appeared when they first landed. While the beach where they'd landed on the east side of the island was only about a mile long, the rest of the coast, ringed with high cliffs, stretched both north and south for what might be several miles. To the west of the beach were woods and it was anyone's guess how deep they went. As the group of almost forty passengers and crewmembers hiked north along the island's coast, the going got more and more difficult. They were grateful for the cliffs as there were many caves dotting them that would make good shelters; however, it made trying to follow the coastline increasingly difficult. The group gradually spread out until they were walking in smaller groups of two to five people. Téa realized that Joey and Mai had disappeared a while back and she tried not to worry about them, hoping instead that it meant he was finally getting a chance to talk to her. She was first relieved then overjoyed when they finally reappeared about half an hour later looking very friendly. Her reaction paled to Serenity's however; as soon as she saw that Mai was with her brother, she practically tackled the older woman in a warm embrace, then stayed at her side and chatted with her like they were two sisters reunited after a long separation. Joey took it all in with the biggest, goofiest smile Téa had ever seen.

_Guess they got to talk,_ she thought, covering her mouth to keep from laughing.

Now only if she could have the same luck.

She'd been trying for the entire walk to get a chance to talk to Yugi. The last moments before everything went to hell the previous night kept replaying in her mind to the point where it was starting to feel unreal. She wanted to verify that it really did happen, that he really had said he couldn't stop thinking about her, that he really had kissed her.

That he'd really said he loved her.

But every time she got close to him, there was Rebecca. It was nothing new for Rebecca to be both clingy and possessive with Yugi; she'd spent much of the KC Grand Championship hanging off his arm, driving Téa up the wall. Still, something seemed off to her today. From the moment Mokuba Kaiba had entered the picture on the pier three days ago, Rebecca had shifted her attention completely from Yugi to him. Now ever since their arrival here, she was back to hanging all over Yugi, who, Téa suspected, felt guilty for going to see Pegasus instead of staying with her. A few times as they walked he would give Téa an apologetic look over Rebecca's head, which at least let her know he wanted to talk to her, too. It was something, anyway.

But why the sudden shift of Rebecca's attention back to Yugi? Téa wondered if maybe kissing him on the beach right in front of her had been a huge mistake. She'd been so relieved to see him she hadn't even really given it any thought, she'd just _done _it.

_Must've really pushed her possessive button,_ Téa thought, clenching her fists in frustration.

But something else was different, too. Normally Rebecca was one of the most vivacious people she knew, always brimming with energy and a sarcastic comment or two. All morning as they hiked, however, the young prodigy seemed strangely subdued. Where the clinginess at the KC Grand Championship had involved giggling and squealing and comments about dates and other things that made Yugi squirm, today she was largely silent. Before this Téa couldn't remember five consecutive minutes where Rebecca wasn't talking. Today she'd gone in half-hour stretches without uttering a syllable.

_Is she really that upset about the ship sinking? _If it were any other thirteen-year-old, Téa would be sure that's exactly what it was, but Rebecca had gone through the whole Orichalcos mess without so much as flinching. Getting shipwrecked was scary, sure, but not compared to Duel Monsters coming to life and stealing people's souls. _She's just jealous, that's all, and she's mad that he's with me now and so she's playing up the whole tragedy thing, knowing that will push Yugi's buttons,_ Téa thought uncharitably, and then felt bad for thinking it.

Eventually they stopped for a break, the purser in charge, Evan Haines, gathering them together and passing out crackers from Sho Inoue's backpack. He then took Michael Hardy, the Australian duelist, and one of the other crewmembers to scout ahead while the rest of them took a breather. Mai, meanwhile, came up behind Téa and furtively slipped her a candy bar.

"Way better than the lifeboat rations, trust me," she whispered with a wink. Téa smiled in gratitude, glad Mai was going to be hanging out with them again, and not just for Joey's sake.

Yugi found a seat on an upended dead tree trunk and, of course, Rebecca was at his side before Téa could take more than two steps in that direction. Growling under her breath, she counted to ten in her head until she was calm enough to sit down on Yugi's other side.

"Hey," he said a little shyly.

"Hey," she replied, trying to smile without showing her frustration.

The rest of the gang joined them, finding various rocks or just the ground to sit on. Mai groaned as she sat down and pulled off her boots.

"Ugh, the water ruined them," she complained.

"Sorry," Joey said sheepishly, and Téa realized that the boots must have gotten soaked when Mai and Tristan had gone after Joey the night before.

"Don't be. It was worth it," she replied with another smile, then pulled off the other boot. "But if I'd have known we'd be hiking, I would've worn better shoes."

Téa and Yugi exchanged a look. "What is that, a standard line in the girl handbook or something?" Yugi asked, then they both started laughing.

"What?" Mai asked, defensive.

"Nothing," Téa giggled.

It seemed like they'd only had seconds to rest when Evan, Michael, and the other crewmember—Harrison, Téa thought his name was—returned.

"There's a narrow path along the edge of a cliff up ahead," Michael explained. "It's a bit dodgy, a lot of loose gravel, but if we get past it, we'll be on the north side of the island. There's another beach at the bottom that would be a good spot to set up another signal fire."

They spread out a bit once more, Evan directing Michael Hardy to take the lead and grouping all the minors and those accompanying them toward the back. The three young American duelists and Sho Inoue were clustered together ahead of the von Schroeders, who in turn were ahead of Kaiba and Mokuba, with Yugi, Rebecca and Téa bringing up the rear. The rest of Téa's friends were somewhere up ahead of all the younger kids. As they walked, Téa gradually fell further behind, more and more frustrated as Rebecca continued to monopolize Yugi's attention. Ahead she noticed Kaiba and Zigfried von Schroeder get into some sort of argument over some business dealings or another while Mokuba and Leon rolled their eyes at each other behind their brothers' backs. Then Leon sped up to flirt with the two American girls, while Mokuba slowed down to let Rebecca and Yugi catch up to him. Téa watched as he walked with them for a bit with no better luck than she'd had in getting Rebecca unglued from Yugi's side. Eventually he hung back further, letting them move ahead just like she had, until the he was walking beside her, the two of them taking up the rear.

"Hey Téa," he said quietly.

"Hey Mokuba," she replied. "How you holding up?"

"I'm okay."

Slowing his pace a bit to let Yugi and Rebecca get even further ahead, he said in a low voice, "Hey Téa, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, Mokuba, what's up?"

"I…" he started, but looked a little embarrassed. She waited patiently, and he started again. "I was wondering how well you know Rebecca."

She shrugged. "Not well, really. She was just a little kid when I met her in Domino right after Duelist Kingdom, and then of course we spent some time in California together a few years ago, but I'm not exactly close to her like Yugi is."

"Yeah, I noticed," Mokuba replied a little bitterly. "I…" he faltered again. "Téa, we're friends, right? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure we're friends, Mokuba," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Just don't tell your brother," she winked.

He grinned. "Yeah, yeah, 'friends make you weak,' blah blah blah," he said, rolling his eyes. "He means well, though, really he does. He's just had to be responsible for so much at such a young age. But anyway… uh… you and Yugi…"

Téa felt her cheeks flush a bit.

"I uh… I saw you guys on the beach when we landed," he finished.

"Yeah," she said, not sure what else to say.

"That's really cool and everything." She could tell he was a little embarrassed, too. "I always thought you guys would make a great couple."

"Thanks," she said, feeling even more awkward, but pleased too.

"So, uh… then… what's the deal with Rebecca and him? She's been, like, velcroed to him all morning. Does she have a crush on him or something?"

"Oh, Mokuba, I don't think it's anything," she said, trying to reassure herself as much as him. "They were really isolated together in Egypt for six months, and last night was really traumatic and everything. I think she's just looking for something familiar to cling to."

"I guess," he said.

"You like her, huh?"

Now it was Mokuba's turn to blush. "Oh, I don't know. I've really had fun getting to know her on the ship and she's really smart and _really _cute and everything."

Téa smiled. "You and your brother are pretty much living in San Francisco these days, right?"

"Yeah, it's hard to oversee the various Kaiba Land parks from Japan. Why?"

"Well, Yugi tells me Rebecca and her grandfather are moving back to northern California."

"Really?" His face broke out into a broad grin, but then he quickly schooled his features. "I mean, that's kinda cool."

She laughed. "Are you sure you're really a Kaiba?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

She laughed harder, holding up her hands defensively. "It's a _compliment,"_ she told him quickly. "You're a great guy, Mokuba, and you have a huge heart. And I definitely think—Mokuba!" she cried, stopping short as he slipped on some gravel. She grabbed his arm to help him keep his balance.

"I'm okay," he said quickly.

Up ahead, Kaiba had stopped when she'd cried out his brother's name and looked back. "Mokuba, you okay?" he called back. Yugi and Rebecca, right behind him, stopped and looked back too.

"Yeah I'm—" he started, but he never got a chance to finish. With a deafening roar, the boulders above them suddenly broke apart, showering rocks and debris down on them.

"MOKUBA!" Téa screamed, then knocked him out of the way as a huge chunk of the cliff sailed past them and took out the ledge where Mokuba had just been standing. Unfortunately, the force of her shove sent him sliding over the edge. Téa managed to catch his hand in hers, but his momentum almost pulled her down with him.

"TÉA!" she heard Yugi shout from up ahead at the same time as Kaiba roared "MOKUBA!"

Téa grasped frantically for some sort of purchase to keep Mokuba from dragging her over the side of the cliff, but the ground was all loose gravel and dirt. In an instant, however, Yugi and Kaiba were there. Yugi grabbed Téa around her waist and threw his weight backwards. Not a heavyweight by a long shot, he didn't add much stability, but it was enough to stop their forward slide. Kaiba was right behind him and he threw himself down on the gravel and reached past Téa toward his brother.

"Mokuba! Grab my hand!" he called down.

Mokuba was trying hard just to hang onto Téa without flailing. When he saw his brother, he swung his body so that he could reach Kaiba's outstretched hand. The force of the motion caused Téa to slide another couple inches forward and Yugi's arms closed even more tightly around her waist. She could feel him dig his boots into the ground to try give him leverage to keep them from sliding further, but there was no leverage to be had. But then Mokuba had Kaiba's hand, taking some of the weight off Téa. Yugi and Kaiba pulled backwards together, dragging first Téa and then Mokuba up over the edge and onto the ledge. A moment later, she felt more hands helping, grabbing them from behind and pulling backwards.

"We gotcha, Yuge," she heard Joey say, and she heard Tristan grunt as well.

When he was mostly up on the cliff, Mokuba let go of Téa's hand, causing her to topple backwards onto Yugi, who in turn fell onto Joey. She scrambled up and Yugi threw his arms around her while Kaiba did the same to his brother.

"You okay?" Yugi asked into her hair.

"Yeah," she said a little breathlessly as she pulled back. "How 'bout we don't do that again, okay?"

"No kidding," he agreed, his eyes wide with worry.

"What the hell happened?" Tristan asked, and then there were more people there.

"We need to get off this cliff, it isn't safe," Téa heard a heavy Australian accent say.

Quickly but carefully, the group made its way down the sloping path until they were at the bottom of the cliff. It ended in a beach that was smaller than the one they'd landed on early that morning.

"You okay?" Yugi asked Téa again. He'd kept his arm tightly around her the entire way down.

"I'm good," she assured him, but her heart was still racing.

"What happened up there?" Tristan asked again. "What made those boulders come crashing down all of a sudden?"

"I knew that path was precarious," Michael Hardy said.

"I'm sorry, but that cliff didn't just fall apart on its own," Kaiba growled, his hands still protectively gripping Mokuba's shoulders.

"What are you saying, Kaiba, that someone did this on purpose?" Yugi asked.

"Oh, no, no, no," Mr. Goradon said quickly, "I'm sure it was just an accident."

"I don't think it's a stretch to think that if someone who was on that ship was capable of blowing it up, they're certainly capable of bringing a boulder down on someone's head." Kaiba said, and Téa saw him give a pointed glare at Pegasus who she just now noticed watching them all impassively.

He gave Kaiba an exaggerated look of shock. "Surely you don't think _I _could do such a thing to young Mokuba or the lovely Miss Gardner?"

Yugi looked furious at that remark, but Téa held her hand up. "Stop, Kaiba, I don't think anyone did it. Michael is right, it was a gravelly cliff to begin with."

Evan Haines, Amy Burns, and the three other crewmen waded into the group and tried to regain order and get a headcount.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked. "Did everyone make it down okay?"

"Hey, where's Rex and Weevil?" Duke asked suddenly.

Téa looked around and didn't see them, but a moment later they came sliding down the hill from a different path than the one they'd been on. They stopped short, panting and out of breath, when they noticed everyone looking at them.

"What?" Rex asked.

Kaiba let go of Mokuba and strode over to them, his long coat trailing in the cool air behind him like a cape. "And just where were you two? You weren't busy knocking boulders down onto the cliff, were you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Weevil protested in a tone of voice that made Téa rethink the whole accident thing. She heard Yugi growl in the back of his throat and start to move away from her toward them, but she held him back.

"Listen you two pieces of worm-ridden filth," Kaiba threatened, "if I find out either of you had _anything _to do with my brother almost going off over the side of that cliff, you're going to wish your _parents _had never even been born."

"Mr. Kaiba!" Evan cried out, coming between him and Rex and Weevil, both of whom were starting to look distinctly afraid. "Idle threats aren't going to get us anywhere!"

"I assure you, it was no idle threat," Kaiba said, his voice ice.

"I'm sure it was just an accident," Evan said placatingly, but Téa thought trying to placate Kaiba was like a mouse trying to placate a hawk.

"I'd like to see for myself," Kaiba replied, then headed up the way Rex and Weevil had come. Evan started after him, then seemed to decide it was pointless and just let him go.

"Well now what?" asked Mai while they waited for Kaiba to come back. "We're not going back the way we came, that's for sure. That landslide took out the entire ledge back there."

"Obviously not," Evan agreed. "We'll have to split up and look for another way back to the east side of the island."

"I don't think that's our best plan, mate," Michael Hardy interjected. He pointed up to the cliffs and woods surrounding the beach. "It isn't going to be easy getting back over that. I think our time would be better-spent making camp _here._ We need to find shelter, fresh water, get some food—"

"I can catch some fish!" Mako Tsunami said brightly.

"Wait a minute," Evan said, "we need to get back with everyone else."

"You wanna try, be my guest," Michael said, his arms folded. "But let me tell you, I'm an outdoorsman and I think it's a fool's errand. Let's make camp here. We can make a signal fire on this beach like we planned."

"And we could continue dueling, letting the holographs act as signals," Goradon suggested, and Téa groaned at his one-track mind.

"Hold on," Evan said, pulling out one of the two-way radios. "Let me radio back to the main camp and see what the captain has to say. Maybe one of the boats has enough fuel to come around and pick us up."

While Evan was talking on the radio, Kaiba returned, his face grim.

"Well?" Yugi asked.

"There's a path that leads up above the one we were on. It would have made a perfect vantage point for pushing over a boulder onto the path below." He gave Rex and Weevil a hard stare.

"We didn't push any boulders down!" Weevil protested. "Why would we want to cut off our way back to the rest of the passengers?"

"You tell us," Kaiba replied.

"Was there a way to get back to the main part of the island from up there?" Michael asked, but Kaiba shook his head.

"There's a gap that's too wide to cross. Which begs the question, how did Rex and Weevil get there? They would have had to have been ahead of us and gone up the same way I just did."

"That's exactly what we did do," Rex replied hastily. "We just wanted to see what was up there."

"Sounds like a lot of work for the two of you," Téa pointed out, beginning to think that Kaiba may have had a point. "And you were making some pretty big threats the other night at dinner."

"Oh give me a break, that was duelist trash talk," Rex shot back, "and we were talking to Yugi and Joey, not you and Mokuba. If we were going to go to all that effort, it wouldn't be for the two of _you."_

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "Don't think this is over. I _will _find out if you two had anything to do with this."

At this point, Evan finished his radio discussion with the ship's captain then announced to the group that they would have to stay put. None of the boats had enough gas to get off the beach much less make it a quarter of the way around the island, and the captain agreed with Michael that there was no sense in spending time looking for an alternate route back. They would camp here for the time being, thereby increasing their coverage of the island and their chances of being spotted. They were even happy to discover that between Serenity, who had completed a very basic six-week course of EMT training, and one of the crewmembers, a man named Harrison who was a former navy medic, they even had some rudimentary coverage in the event of an accident or illness among them.

"All right then," Evan told them. "We're on our own for the time being, so we'll have to take care of the basics. First we need to take a lunch break, and then we'll divide up into groups. We need to find water, shelter, food—"

"I'll catch some fish!" Mako repeated.

"Fine," Evan gave his assent. "Anyone else a good fisherman?"

"I am," Michael replied. Kenan Bagatui and his wife both raised their hands, along with Raul Pérez.

"Okay, after lunch, you all go with Mr. Tsunami and try and catch us some dinner," Evan told them, assigning one of the pursers along with them. He then split the rest of them up into four other groups: one to look for other food sources, one to find water, one to search for shelter, and the last to set up camp. Téa, Yugi, Joey, Mai, Rebecca, Duke, Tristan, and Serenity were all assigned to search for water. Kaiba and Mokuba were among those sent to look for shelter. Pegasus, Croquet, Goradon, and the other tournament official, a man named Nelson, were among those chosen to help set up camp. Rex and Weevil were part of the group that was to look for food on land along with Evan himself, who while not convinced Kaiba's accusations were correct, still seemed concerned enough to want to keep an eye on them.

Once everyone had their assigned tasks, they all found spots on the beach to sit while Evan and Amy passed out the MREs they had brought with them. Just as Téa was about to sit down next to Yugi and Rebecca with a pack that was supposed to be mesquite chicken with mashed potatoes and peanut butter cookies, Kaiba approached her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you," he said to her in a rare moment of absolute sincerity. "That's not the first time you've saved Mokuba."

She didn't know what to say, so she just blushed and nodded.

"I won't forget it, Téa." He looked at her intently for a moment, then strode off.


	4. The Shadow Duelists

**4. The Shadow Duelists**

Yugi sat between Téa and Rebecca eating without enthusiasm the contents of a foil package that claimed to contain "beefsteak with mushroom gravy," but looked like brown paste and didn't taste much better. As they ate, Goradon made the rounds again, trying to drum up enthusiasm for continuing the tournament the next day. "Fate has kept all of the final sixteen competitors together," he insisted. Though Yugi couldn't think of anything inherently wrong with spending the time dueling once their more immediate needs were met, and he even agreed that the holograms from the duel disks could be useful as signaling devices, it still troubled him that Goradon would place the tournament as such a high priority.

Pegasus, interestingly, gave no opinion whatsoever, but Yugi got the feeling he approved of continuing the tournament. In the meantime, he'd indicated to Yugi that they should eat quickly and before going off on the tasks the ship's crew had assigned them, he and his friends should meet him in the woods on the south end of the beach, away from the rest of the group. He disappeared not long after that, and as they finished their own lunches, the band of ten—Yugi, Joey, Téa, Tristan, Duke, Serenity, Rebecca, Mai, Kaiba, and Mokuba—gradually made their way into the woods to join him. Yugi and Kaiba were both particularly anxious to hear the rest of the details about what Pegasus knew and why he felt the Shadow Realm was in danger of being reopened. Croquet, Pegasus's assistant, had been placed as a lookout to keep them from being interrupted.

Yugi folded his arms, waiting for Pegasus to begin. Kaiba, however, was not so patient. "No more stalling, Pegasus. Tell us what's going on here."

"About a year ago," Pegasus began without preamble, "it came to my attention that there was someone who was taking a very big interest in the history of the Millennium Items and the Shadow Games."

"Exactly how did this 'come to your attention?'" Kaiba asked.

"Kaiba-boy," Pegasus clucked, "surely you don't expect me to give away my business secrets. Suffice it to say that I keep tabs on all things in which I have a vested interest, and for obvious reasons I have a vested interest in the Millennium Items and the Shadow Games."

"Even now that the Millennium Items are gone and the Shadow Realm closed?" Yugi asked.

"Especially now," Pegasus replied silkily. "You see, Yugi-boy, all of us here who have either played a Shadow Game or been sent to the Shadow Realm, we have been changed. Marked, if you will, in a way that can never be erased, not even by the loss of the Millennium Items. If the Shadow Realm were to be re-opened, it would have a profound effect on all of us."

"Reopened?" Joey gasped. "What do you mean reopened? I thought the only way to create a Shadow Game was though one of the Millennium Items." Yugi saw him glance at Mai and knew he was more afraid for her than for the others. Out of any of them, her experience with the Shadow Realm had been the most damaging.

"Do you really believe there's ever only _one _way to do anything? Has Duel Monsters taught you nothing?" Pegasus chided him. "If your Red-Eyes Black Dragon is destroyed, do you surrender or do you find another strategy?"

"Eventually someone's Life Points get to zero," Joey countered. "Zero Millennium Items, game over."

A smile curled on Pegasus's thin lips. "Very good, Joseph. But there's always the opportunity for a new game."

"Enough of the metaphors," Kaiba cut in impatiently, "and enough with the 'Shadow Games' ghost stories. _Why are we here?"_

"Kaiba-boy, all this time and you still don't believe in ghosts and monsters?"

Kaiba eyed Pegasus evenly. "While I concede the existence of the Shadow Realm, I'm not willing to jump every time you say 'boo.'"

"I want to hear what he has to say," Mokuba interjected. "I don't trust him any more than you do, Seto," he continued when Kaiba gave him a withering look, "but this Shadow Game stuff is real and I'd like to make sure they don't come back."

"I'm more worried about who blew up the ship and who tried to knock you and Téa off a cliff."

"That landslide was probably just an accident," Mokuba argued, "but if it wasn't, don't you think it's probably connected with what Pegasus is talking about?"

"Who wants to re-open the Shadow Realm and how are they going to do it?" Joey asked, cutting to the point.

"I don't know. _Yet._ But as I told Yugi-boy and Kaiba-boy last night, it is someone with a lot of power and reach," Pegasus answered. "When was the last time you spoke with any of the Ishtars, Yugi-boy?"

Yugi exchanged glances with Rebecca, who was sitting beside him. "We saw Marik Ishtar six months ago at the beginning of our expedition in the desert. Why? Do they have something to do with this?"

Pegasus ignored his question. "You haven't spoken with him or Ishizu since then?"

"No."

"Well, I have."

Yugi gave him a surprised look. "I didn't know you and Ishizu knew each other."

"I told you, I make it my business to keep tabs on things that concern me. But to get back to the point: strange things have been happening in Egypt the last several months. Ishizu is very concerned."

Yugi saw Rebecca cross her arms uncomfortably and he reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "What kind of things?" he asked Pegasus.

Pegasus's single eye bored into him. "It started with several thefts from the Egyptian Bureau of Archaeology over the past year."

"What kinds of thefts?" Téa asked.

"Artifacts. Oh, nothing as powerful as the Millennium Items," he said in response to the look of apprehension on Téa's face. "Scrolls and historical documents mostly. I don't believe Ishizu attached any great importance to the thefts beyond the historical value of the artifacts, at least not at first."

"Yes, I remember, that was happening before we left Cairo. Ishizu, Professor Hawkins, and I had several discussions about them, but nothing that concerned the Shadow Realm."

"But after you left Cairo, the thefts escalated. Relics from the tombs of Ramesses I, Seti I, Ramesses the Great, and Ramesses III."

Yugi's eyes widened in astonishment. "Those are the major pharaohs of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties! That is _huge!_ Why didn't Ishizu tell us?"

"You were out of contact during the last six months, were you not? I will even go so far as to say I believe that the person responsible for the thefts played a hand in or is even directly responsible for the fact that you went on the expedition at all. Had you returned to Cairo when you'd originally planned, you would have found a whole stack of messages waiting for you and the professor. As it was, you were rather rushed trying to get to the United States, no?"

"Yes, we were, especially because of losing our passports," Yugi said. "We were only in Cairo for one day and we spent pretty much all of it at our consulates trying to get new ones. I never had time to check e-mail or even send word to my friends explaining why I was late and when I would get to San Francisco."

"Yes, and as I mentioned last night, it was no accident that your passports disappeared."

"I _knew _they were stolen!" Rebecca cried, and then she caught on. _"You _got us our new passports, didn't you?"

"Yes on both counts. I have no doubt the same person responsible for the thefts was also responsible for that and most of your travel delays."

"Even a _sandstorm?"_ Rebecca asked incredulously.

"Well, no, that was just good fortune for him and bad fortune for you. But for most of the other delays, I am reasonably certain he was responsible, yes. And they served two purposes: to try and prevent you from making the tournament and to keep you from learning about the thefts. I daresay your grandfather has been a very busy man since your flight left Cairo, Miss Hawkins."

"Pegasus, you are still wasting my time," Kaiba complained. "What do stolen Egyptian artifacts have to do with you hosting a Duel Monsters tournament and our ship sinking?"

"Yeah, for once I'm with Rich Boy," Tristan put in. "Can we cut to the chase?"

"There just isn't any appreciation for a good story anymore," Pegasus sighed dramatically. "The chase, as Corporal Taylor so eloquently put it, is this: Thousands of years ago, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Atem sealed himself and an evil spirit into the Millennium Puzzle, one of seven Millennium Items, thereby closing the Shadow Realm. His successor, Seto, created a Memory Stone as a key. These two pharaohs were the last to play the Shadow Games until thousands of years later when the Millennium Items were discovered and the Shadow Games returned."

"Is there anything else on besides summer reruns?" Kaiba asked rolling his eyes.

"Yes, yes, Kaiba-boy, I know you're familiar with this bit of history. But did you ever wonder about the pharaohs who came after?" Pegasus asked them. "Surely those who came later would resent having lost such power and would try to get it back?"

Yugi nodded. "There is evidence of pharaohs in the later New Kingdom era calling for revivals of the 'magic of the gods.' It's very vague, but Professor Hawkins and I have speculated they may have been trying to revive the Shadow Games. There is no evidence that any succeeded, though. As far as we can tell, the game completely died until you re-invented it as a card game, Pegasus."

"Indeed," Pegasus agreed, "but after the thefts began, even before you left Cairo, Yugi-boy, Ishizu did some research and came upon a rather startling discovery. Several of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom may have come close. These pharaohs, not coincidentally, were Ramesses I, Seti I, Ramesses the Great, and Ramesses III."

"The same pharaohs whose tomb artifacts were stolen," Yugi said.

"Exactly. Now, although the Millennium Items were not discovered during the reigns of these pharaohs, they did find a tool with which to access a dark force."

"What dark force?" Yugi asked. "Something to do with the Shadow Games?"

"Not the Shadow Games, no, but something close. We don't know what exactly this 'dark force' is or how it works. However, apparently without the power that was locked away in the Millennium Items, this dark force needed a path. The Shadow Games themselves provide such a path. As I said, anyone who has been a participant in a Shadow Game is indelibly marked. The catch twenty-two, however, was that the last people who had played Shadow Games were long gone. Therefore, these pharaohs were, Ishizu believes, unsuccessful in re-opening the Shadow Realm.

"Now fast forward another three thousand years. The Millennium Items have been discovered and the Shadow Realm re-opened. For three years in particular, from the time the Millennium Puzzle was solved until the time when Yugi-boy surrendered all seven Millennium Items to the Millennium Stone, the Shadow Realm was quite active, but I hardly need tell anyone here that. We are all 'Shadow Duelists,' if you will, even those among us who don't consider themselves duelists. Every one of us has been a participant in a Shadow Game, if you include your little "virtual" detour during the Battle City finals."

"What?" several of them cried out at once.

"Yes, the virtual world you visited was connected to the Shadow Realm. I'm afraid that's my fault, actually. Kaiba-boy, it was your 'Big Five' who played a part, no? You do remember who originally partnered with them to take control of Kaiba Corp?"

"You snake!" Kaiba cried out. "You had something to do with that whole virtual nightmare with my stepfather and stepbrother?"

"Not directly, no, but let's just say the 'Big Five' knew something of the Shadow Realm and Marik Ishtar was also present with the Millennium Rod, which helped your stepfather more than he realized. As for my involvement, I will remind you that we have put behind us the… unpleasantness from Duelist Kingdom when I was being, shall we say, misled by the Millennium Eye?"

"Speak for yourself! I don't forgive and forget that easily, Pegasus!"

"Well, we all have our flaws, don't we, Kaiba-boy? Anyway, those of you who dueled in that virtual world were, in fact, participating in Shadow Games. That means every one of you standing here now has been 'marked' by the Shadow Realm, if you will."

"That's not true," Rebecca interrupted. "I've never played a Shadow Game. I've never even seen one. I hadn't even heard of them until my grandfather brought me to Egypt and Yugi came to live with us and told me all the stories."

Pegasus narrowed his eye and looked intently at Rebecca. "You're quite sure? I believe you _have_ played a Shadow Game. Perhaps Yugi-boy would care to elaborate?"

Yugi jerked his head in surprise. "Me? I don't know of any time Rebecca played a Shadow Game."

"Of course you do, Yugi-boy. She played it against _you."_

"Against me?" Yugi asked, dumbfounded. "I never played a Shadow Game with Rebecca! I would never—"

"Not intentionally, perhaps, but I assure you that you did, in fact, play a Shadow Game with Miss Hawkins the very first time you met."

"The first time…?" He remembered the first time he met Rebecca. He had just returned from Duelist Kingdom when this eight-year-old American girl appeared out of nowhere and claimed his grandfather had stolen her grandfather's Blue-Eyes White Dragon card. She'd challenged him to a duel to win back the card, which his grandfather hadn't stolen and had been torn up anyhow. As the duel progressed, he'd learned the story of how her grandfather and his had become friends on an archeological dig in Egypt several years before Yugi solved the Millennium Puzzle. They had been trapped in a cave-in and had played Duel Monsters to while away the time and also to win the last of their water. His grandpa, knowing that Professor Hawkins needed the water more than he did, had surrendered the duel even though he could have won. The duel in which Rebecca and Yugi were engaging in years later was an exact replay, card for card, of their grandfathers' duel…

"Oh!" he cried, and Pegasus nodded at him.

"What?" Rebecca asked. "What is he talking about, Yugi?"

"Our first duel, Rebecca. It was an _exact _replay of our grandfathers' duel. Card for card. How is that possible? Even if you and I were taught by them and our strategies were identical to theirs because of it, how could we draw _exactly _the same cards and play them in _exactly _the same order, right up to my surrender?"

Rebecca looked at him, alarmed. "That was a _Shadow Game? _You played a _Shadow Game_ on me?"

"Not intentionally," Pegasus assured her. "Remember what I just said about the Shadow Realm leaving a mark? Yugi had already played several Shadow Games by this point. I believe the power of his Puzzle, which he'd not yet fully understood or mastered, followed this path and created the Shadow Game without his knowledge."

"How do you _know _this?" Téa asked. "You were off licking your wounds after Duelist Kingdom when that duel happened, and it was a private game, not part of a tournament or anything."

"A private game held at Kaiba's arcade using _my _dueling arena technology," Pegasus reminded them.

"You keep _track _of private games?" Joey asked. "That's just a little bit creepy."

"I told you, I keep tabs on all things in which I have a vested interest." Pegasus steepled his fingers under his chin. "The point is, Yugi-boy, that this duel illustrates exactly the danger we face right now. Your grandfathers dueled while Solomon Mutou was in possession of the Millennium Puzzle—and yes, I know about that, too; don't bother asking how," he said when Joey looked like he was about to object. "Whether or not that duel itself was a Shadow Game, I cannot say. But when our Yugi-boy, fresh from his victory at Duelist Kingdom—a victory which I'm sure I need not remind anyone was very much a Shadow Game—when he dueled Miss Hawkins, the connection between the Millennium Puzzle and the earlier duel and any paths that might have been made in Yugi-boy's subconscious created its own Shadow Game, an exact repeat of the game where Solomon Mutou sacrificed himself for his friend."

"But that duel had a positive outcome," Yugi said. "Rebecca was changed for the better because of it. Well, it's true!" he said when she gave him a disgruntled look.

"Ah, Yugi-boy, I wouldn't have expected you to be taken in by the common misperception that so plagues our modern culture. We think 'shadow' and 'darkness' are always synonymous with evil. Surely someone whose favorite Duel Monsters card is called _Dark _Magician would realize that this is not always the case. And your Pharaoh, did you not think of him as your "dark" half? The Shadow Realm is not inherently evil. What it is is inherently _powerful _and power is seductive, so often it is _used _for evil. But your Shadow Game with Rebecca was not evil. Neither was your very first duel with Kaiba, the one that won you all this acclaim in the first place. Don't pretend you don't know _that _was a Shadow Game and that its purpose and final result were also beneficial. Though Kaiba-boy is sadly as dull and dreary as ever, he is changed for the better since that game, no?"

"What a load of garbage! That game was a fluke and meant nothing other than there was someone else in this game worth dueling!" Kaiba protested.

Neither Yugi nor Pegasus bothered correcting him, though both knew differently.

"So yes, Rebecca, you have participated in a Shadow Game, and however positive the outcome, it still has left a path in your subconscious, one that can be used against you. And the point of this whole tale is that there is now no shortage of people who have played Shadow Games. Because of this, because of all of us here, our adversary believes he can succeed where the ancient pharaohs failed. Building upon the work of those pharaohs, he believes he can and will re-open the Shadow Realm. And make no mistake, he does not intend to use the power there for anything so benign as teaching little girls lessons in respect and friendship."

"So who is this guy?" Tristan asked.

"As I said, I don't know. Neither Ishizu nor I have been able to find anything to lead us back to the thief himself. All we do know is that he is very well connected in the business world and is knowledgeable of the history of ancient Egypt, both the accepted scholarship and the more unconventional aspects relating to the Shadow Games and magic."

Duke spoke up for the first time. "If this grave robber is so hot to use us and these 'pathways' we have from playing Shadow Games to re-open the Shadow Realm, why try and kill us?"

"This is where I admit I was taken off guard. As I'd kept my part in this tournament a secret and Ishizu has not been involved at all, I believed that he had not figured out what I was up to here. However, when he went out of his way to prevent both Yugi-boy and Kaiba-boy from coming, I realized I'd made a serious miscalculation. Even then, I had no idea to what lengths he'd go to to stop the tournament."

"Why?" Yugi asked. "What is so important about this tournament? Why have you called us all here, Pegasus?"

"Because we Shadow Duelists are the ones most at risk if the Shadow Games return and we're the only ones who can stop him. But as with most magic, it isn't as simple as fighting. This is a new war, Yugi-boy. The old one ended when the Millennium Items were lost. A new war needs new soldiers. New Knights of the Roundtable, if you will."

"You've got to be kidding me," Kaiba scoffed.

"I'm quite serious, Kaiba-boy. It was Ishizu's idea, actually. In order to play in the ancient Shadow Games, the pharaohs and sorcerers had to prove their worth. They were often playing with monsters created from their own _Kas _after all. When the Millennium Items were created, and then later when they were found in our own century, they in and of themselves were a test of worth for those of us who were able to possess them. Now that they're gone, a new test is needed. This is more than just a gaming tournament. The winners will have proven their worth and will be able to fight against opening the Shadow Realm. Or failing that, will be able to take the fight to the Shadow Realm if necessary."

Suddenly Yugi understood. "Your job offer to the top four duelists!"

"Exactly."

"Wait a second," Yugi frowned. "We all got our invitations six months ago, _before _Rebecca and I left Cairo, which means it was before the thefts had escalated, so this tournament had to have been in the works for a while before all that."

"Very perceptive, Yugi-boy."

"But why, if Ishizu didn't attach any significance to the earlier thefts?"

"I said she didn't at _first_," Pegasus corrected. "But when she researched it and found those pharaohs that had tried to reopen the Shadow Realm, she reconsidered."

"But if that was all before we left, why didn't she say anything to me?" Yugi asked, irritated.

"Because we didn't know enough yet and we didn't want to tip off whoever the thief was that we were understanding the significance of what might be happening by talking it over with a lot of people. We planned the tournament just in case, and then when the thefts escalated after you left, we knew we had been right. So now here we are, with this tournament serving as an entryway for those who qualify to fight in the Shadow Realm."

"What if your top four duelists aren't any of us so-called 'Shadow Duelists?' What then?" Joey asked. "Or is this some kind of setup? Is this tournament fixed?"

"Joseph, I'm wounded," Pegasus replied loftily. "I would never fix a tournament."

"Yeah, 'cause there was nothing shady going on at Duelist Kingdom," Joey sneered.

"Again, I thought that bit of unpleasantness was behind us. I assure you, this tournament is completely above board. It's being run through the International Duel Monsters Tournament Commission and Mr. Goradon is seeing to all the particulars. Those of you who are competing are here not just because of your involvement with the Shadow Realm, but because of your skills as duelists. I would point out, however, that it is no coincidence that the best duelists are those who have played Shadow Games. You could not of survived if you weren't the strongest."

"Some of us didn't survive," Mai said softly. Yugi and Joey both jerked their heads toward her and Yugi saw Joey bite his lip.

"Oh, you survived. You're here, aren't you? You may not have won your Shadow Game with Marik Ishtar, but you _survived._ And I believe you were more than up to the task of defeating _me_ a year later, _n'est ce pas_, Mai Sweet Valentine? But then, that is another bit of unpleasantness we've put behind us, isn't it?" he oozed.

Mai said nothing but Joey looked like he might strangle Pegasus for alluding to her involvement with the Orichalcos. Yugi shot his friend a warning look and Joey merely chewed on his lip more furiously and said nothing.

"Regardless, out of the seven of you who were invited to duel, six of you have made it to the semi-finals of your division, and yes, I will confess to this one bit of tinkering on my part: you were all put into separate divisions for a reason, although that is a perfectly legitimate tournament planning tactic. In any elimination-style tournament, players are seeded by ability so that the best players don't compete against each other until the finals.

"Also, I would like to point out that there are _eight _divisions, not four. All eight division winners will have passed the test of worth, even if only the top four are invited to work for me. Provided that the tournament is fully completed over the course of the next two weeks. Otherwise, the test will be nullified."

Yugi groaned. "It was you! You put Goradon up to all this nonsense about continuing the tournament!"

Pegasus laughed. "Oh Yugi-boy, don't be ridiculous. Mr. Goradon is a businessman, and like all businessmen, his business interests come first. I dare say once his own backside was safely seated on a lifeboat, the whole ship sinking fiasco thrilled him. He couldn't have dreamed up a better promotion if he'd tried. Imagine the papers reporting about the sunken cruise ship hosting a card game tournament. Suddenly Duel Monsters is in the mainstream media. So much the better if when we're rescued he can tell the tale of how dedicated duelists made it through this ordeal by continuing to duel." Pegasus shuddered pleasantly. "It's a delicious story, no?"

"You're wacked!" Tristan said.

"I said that was Mr. Goradon's point of view, not mine," Pegasus pointed out.

"But you agree we should continue with the tournament," Yugi stated.

"It's crucial that we do or our grave robber will have an advantage that may be insurmountable."

"Doesn't _he_ have to prove he's worthy, too?" Mokuba asked.

"I expect he's found his own way of that. Most likely through the artifacts he stole. This is why we must finish this tournament." He eyed each one of them. "I see most of you have your duel disks. We duelists are a peculiar lot, aren't we? Faced with a ship about to sink, we all reached first for our decks, didn't we?"

"I didn't," Duke admitted, showing his empty left arm.

"Ah, but your heart isn't in the cards, is it Duke? I'm curious, though; do you have your dice?"

Duke raised an eyebrow and stuck his hand into his coat pocket and retrieved a canvas bag. He held it up for Pegasus to see.

"I thought so. For most of the competitors here, their first thought on waking up to the ship's alarm was to grab their deck."

Yugi knew Pegasus was right. He had made the same observation himself when they were trying to get to the lifeboats. Besides, the sixteen division semifinalists had already indicated they all had their disks and decks.

"I don't appreciate being brought here under false pretenses, Pegasus. I didn't ask to be one of your little soldiers or knights or Shadow Duelists or whatever you want to call them. Don't expect me to play along with your little game."

Pegasus only laughed. "Seto Kaiba forfeit a World Championship Tournament and his claim to the title? Oh Kaiba-boy, who knew you could be such a comedian?"

"It isn't funny, Pegasus!" Téa shouted. "What right do you have to mess with people's lives? Kaiba's right, you brought everyone here under false pretenses and put lives in danger. We should have been told up front what this was about."

"Surely you can appreciate the need for the utmost secrecy. Even with the precautions we took, look where we wound up. And rest assured, no one will be _forced _to do anything. You all have the right of refusal, even after the tournament."

"I notice you're not entered in the tournament," Kaiba observed. "Dueling skills not up to snuff these days or are you just happier sending others where you're not willing to go?"

"I have my own role to play, Kaiba-boy."

Yugi folded his arms, weighing Pegasus' words. "Pegasus, how do we know any of this is true? All we have is your word."

Pegasus gave him another look of mock hurt. "And my word isn't enough?" Then he smiled. "Yugi-boy, does it really matter? If what I say is true, you'll see evidence of the Shadow Realm being reopened soon enough. If it isn't true, what have you lost? All I'm asking of you at the moment is to continue the tournament and be vigilant."

Yugi nodded, conceding the point, but he still mulled it over. How much of it was truth and how much of it did Pegasus twist or withhold to make his own version of the truth? Was Ishizu really involved? She certainly wasn't above working behind the scenes to bring together the people she felt needed to be brought together; Battle City happened because of her manipulation of Kaiba. What of the other Ishtars? And then another thought occurred to him.

"Pegasus, if this is as crucial as you say to everyone who has played a Shadow Game or been trapped in the Shadow Realm, then it seems to me you've missed quite a few people. All three Ishtars and Ryou Bakura were key players in various Shadow Games and Marik, Ishizu and Bakura all had Millennium Items as well. Even my grandfather went to the Shadow Realm thanks to you. Why invite us and not them?"

"Ah, Yugi-boy, very observant. Your grandfather simply is past his prime. I see no reason he should have been included. As for the others you named, they all have something that distinguishes them from those of you who are here."

"Uh, they all were once evil nut jobs?" Joey suggested.

"Ishizu wasn't," Yugi pointed out.

"And if we're excluding evil nut jobs, explain why _you're _here, Pegasus," Kaiba observed.

Pegasus chuckled. "Charming as always, Kaiba-boy, but Joseph is exactly right. Ryou Bakura, Marik Ishtar, and Odion Ishtar have all used the Shadow Games for, shall we say, less than noble purposes. I believe they will all have a role to play eventually, but for the time being, I'd prefer we stick to those who are a little more trustworthy. I'm not sure what we're up against and what effects there might be for those who have had past…_issues._"

"Which still doesn't explain _you_ being here," Kaiba repeated.

Pegasus chuckled again. "Why Kaiba-boy, of course _I _trust _myself."_

"Odion wasn't really evil. He was under duress," Yugi said, "and there's still Ishizu."

"Odion is still something of a concern and Ishizu has other work she needs to be doing at the moment. Believe me, Yugi-boy, they will all be involved eventually. Do not think for a moment that even if we prevail here that this will be the end of it. We mustn't underestimate our grave robber or his resources. If one key will not work, he will find another.

"So," he finished, leaning forward, "that's why you're here. What you do next is up to you."


	5. Setting Up Camp

**5. Setting Up Camp**

After their meeting with Pegasus, they had only the brief walk back to the beach to discuss the implications amongst themselves because when they arrived, everyone else was already cleaning up their empty or mostly-empty MRE packs and breaking off to do the tasks that had been assigned to them before lunch.

"We should split up into pairs to look for water," Tristan suggested. "Serenity, why don't you and I go west into the woods?"

Téa couldn't help but smile at Tristan's ploy to get Serenity alone. Joey noticed, too, and looked none too happy about it, but Mai immediately distracted him.

"Joey and I can head south," she suggested, taking his arm and quite pointedly dragging him away from his sister.

"Okay, I'm coming," he grumbled, shooting a final look of warning to Tristan, who already had his back turned and was heading off with Serenity. Turning back to Mai, Joey asked, "So, how exactly do we find water?"

She gave an exaggerated sigh of exasperation as they headed off. "Did you learn _nothing _about the wilderness after Duelist Kingdom? Look for signs of animals or birds. They'd need fresh water to drink."

"Well excuse me for being a city boy!"

Téa looked at Yugi and smiled. "It's good to see them back to normal after so long," she said, and he nodded in agreement.

"Well, we can go that way," Rebecca said to Yugi, pointing toward the woods in the opposite direction Joey and Mai had just headed. She still looked sullen.

Téa fumed. _She is _so _just pushing his buttons…._

Yugi looked torn. He obviously was still feeling a little protective of Téa after their close call.

"Hey Becky," Duke said, sweeping in and clapping an arm around Rebecca's shoulder to steer her away from Yugi and Téa, saving Yugi from having to choose between the two girls, "why don't you come with me?" He gave Yugi and Téa a smirk that made Téa feel self-conscious.

"Duke—" Rebecca started to protest, but he cut her off.

"Come on, Becks, I want to spend some one-on-one time with you, you know, checking up on exactly what is going on with a certain black-haired rich boy."

"Uh… okay, I guess," Rebecca said, perking up a bit. "Okay, Duke, let's go."

"Have _fun_, you two!" Duke called over his shoulder, giving them a wave then mouthing _Yugi's girl_ to Téa as he and Rebecca disappeared into the trees.

Téa scowled at him then deadpanned, "Well, that was subtle. Think our secret's out?"

Yugi gave her a sly yet embarrassed grin. "I think maybe you kissing me on the beach in front of everyone just might have given them a clue. Although to hear Joey tell it, the only people who hadn't already figured it out were you and me."

Téa thought of Duke's "Yugi's girl"and Serenity telling her how "obvious"it was to everyone else. "Uh, yeah, that's the story I've been getting, too."

"So," he said, "water."

"Right," she replied. "I guess we go that way," she pointed.

"Looks rocky," Yugi said dubiously.

"Yeah, that's what we get for choosing last."

Yugi nodded and fell into step beside her.

"You sure you okay?" he asked her. "You really scared me back there."

"Mm hmm," she nodded. Heck, it was almost worth it if it finally got her some time alone with Yugi, although she immediately felt guilty for thinking that way.

He slipped his hand into hers as they walked, picking their way over the rocks and into the trees.

"Duke _would_ pick the more level ground," Téa grumbled.

"He probably figured we owed it to him for taking Rebecca."

"Good point," Téa grinned.

"Hey Téa, I'm sorry about that, by the way. I know I've been with her all morning and everything, and I really wanted to talk with you, but I think the ship sinking really freaked her out and I feel responsible…."

Téa wondered if he meant responsible for Rebecca or for the ship sinking. Probably a little of both, she thought with an inward sigh. "It's okay, Yugi, I understand," she told him.

She fell silent again as her mind drifted to the night before. "Hey, can I ask you something?" she said, no longer able to keep her patience in check.

"Sure."

She chewed her lip apprehensively. "Did you really mean what you said on the ship?"

He grinned, his expression a combination of mischievousness and nervousness. "Let's see… I said a lot of things on the ship. I said I hadn't competed just for fun since the KC Grand Championship, and I meant that. Although I guess this tournament no longer qualifies, does it? Oh, I know! I called Weevil a cockroach at least twice, and I meant that."

She slapped his arm playfully. "Stop, you know what I mean!"

"I'm pretty sure I said 'wow' when I saw you in that fancy dress the first night. _Definitely_ meant that."

"Better," she replied, smiling despite her own nervousness, "but still not what I'm talking about. I mean, I can understand if you didn't… if you just… you know, got caught up in the heat of the moment—"

He stopped walking and took her by the shoulders, turning her to face him. "Téa, stop," he said, his voice solemn. "I meant it." His eyes met hers, completely serious now. "I love you. I've loved you for pretty much ever."

She closed her eyes took a deep breath as the words sunk in.

"Does that freak you out?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied automatically, opening her eyes, but when she saw the look of disappointment on his face, she quickly added, "No! I mean, yes, but in a good way."

"Okaaay," Yugi said, taking his hands off his shoulders and crossing his arms, bemused.

"It's just that this is so surreal." She explained. "Everything's been so weird since graduation. I really felt bad about saying what I said to you, the timing being what it was. It was so selfish of me to dump all that on you."

He looked taken aback by this. "What are you talking about? I'm _grateful _for you being honest with me. If you hadn't, I don't think I could have ever been honest with myself about how I feel about you."

"Still, the way things were so confused because of Atem and then you remembering his memories… you didn't need the complication of my feelings mixed in with everything else."

"That wasn't your fault! How were you supposed to know that was going to happen?"

"It doesn't matter that I didn't know that was coming. What I did know was that you were dealing with Atem being gone and I only thought about how _I _felt about all that and dumping that on you when neither one of us was in a position to deal with it, either emotionally or logistically, was unfair. And then Joey went off on me for trying to push what _I _wanted you having Atem's memories to mean—"

"Wait a second," Yugi interrupted, looking irritated. "Joey went off on you? He had no right to do that! And since when do you listen to Joey anyway?"

"No, he was right about this. I wanted so much for you to be the person I—" She stopped short, unsure how to finish the sentence. "I wanted you to be who I wanted you to be, with _all_ the qualities that make you _you _in _my _eyes. It wasn't fair."

"Téa, we've already had this conversation."

"I know, I'm not trying to rehash it, I'm trying to explain what I've been feeling the past two years. I was embarrassed, Yugi, and I was upset with myself and I didn't feel like I'd been a very good friend, so when I went to New York, I tried to put it behind me. I tried to just be your _friend _and sit back and let you figure out who you are. Those guys I went out with in New York? That was me trying to convince myself what I felt for you was just a high school crush, just like you said. But do you know why none of them ever lasted? It was always because of _you_. We'd go out and it would be fun and everything, but as soon as I got home I'd be on the computer checking my e-mail for something from _you_. And then you said you were leaving Cairo for six months and we couldn't even e-mail anymore; God Yugi, I was devastated. I don't think since I met you I've gone six _hours _without talking to you. I couldn't imagine six _months_ without you in my life, even if it was only text on a screen."

She looked at him and her heart squeezed in her chest as she realized how much she loved him. She loved the way his eyes could look so open and innocent one second and so intense and arresting the next. She loved that he was so diffident and timid and so gregarious all at once. She loved the way his friends meant so much to him and how he fought so hard to always do the right thing. She loved those graceful, slender hands and she even loved his stupid, ridiculous hair and the way the blond locks in front framed his face. She found herself reaching for it again like she had last night, brushing it tenderly back from his eyes before cupping his cheek in her hand.

"Everything was so confused when we left Domino, I didn't really know what it is I felt, but I tried to get over it because I thought that's what would be best," she continued. "But I couldn't get over you, Yugi, not even six thousand miles away. The more I tried, the more I fell in love with you instead." He closed his eyes as she said this and she stroked his cheek with her thumb. "So hearing you say you love me too? Yeah, that freaks me out. A _lot."_

"Téa," he murmured, blushing, and then she was kissing him. It was like last night, an overwhelming feeling that everything in her life had been leading to this one moment where there was only him—her oldest and best friend, her protector and the one she protected—and he _loved _her. She wanted to scream and laugh and cry all at once but couldn't do any of it because she was lost in his kiss and didn't ever want to be found again.

"We're… supposed to be… looking… for water…" he said breathlessly between kisses, but made no real effort to actually stop.

"Who needs… water?" she asked, as breathless as he was.

They kissed a while longer, it seemed like hours or days, maybe, but when his lips reluctantly left hers it wasn't enough. Thankfully, he didn't pull back completely but instead rested his forehead against hers.

"I love you so much," he breathed. "How did I ever survive the last two years without you?"

She felt a thrill at his first statement until reality came crashing back in at his second. "I don't know, but we'll have to do it again, won't we? What with you in America and me in Japan."

"No," he whispered, silencing her with one more kiss before he pulled back to look at her, both hands cradling her face. "I wanna be where you are. I'll go back to Domino until we can both get student visas—"

"Yugi, you can't put school aside for me," she protested.

"Yes, I can. For years you've put stuff on hold for me, to come support me. You'd saved since _forever_ to go study dancing in New York and then used the money so you and Joey and Tristan could come with me to Egypt."

"And then my dad paid for me to go to New York anyway," she pointed out. "Yugi, you have to go to school in America, you know you do. Besides, if what Pegasus told us is true, you know you should be in California where you can help put a stop to all this."

He shook his head. "I just… I wanna help you make _your_ dreams come true."

"But I don't even know what my dreams are right now, Yugi. The only dream I ever had was dancing, and now that I know it isn't what I thought it was, I don't know what my new dream is." She paused as an idea occurred to her. "You know what I really want? _I _want to go to San Francisco and help fight whoever wants to open the Shadow Realm. I want to make a difference, not just on the sidelines. I want to _do _something about this. But I'm not a duelist. I can't fight the way you do, so _you _have to. You can't come back to Domino just for me and not do this. You know you can't."

He sighed, leaning his forehead against hers again. "You're right. I know you're right. But all I want is to be with you."

"I wanna be with you, too," she told him. "But you know, we'll figure it out. I can probably get another student visa next year, or maybe if I'm lucky, by spring semester, and then I can come to San Francisco too and help out. And in the meantime, even if we're not in the same place for a little while, we'll still be _together,_ right?"

"Together. I like the sound of that." He pulled back and his eyes met hers. "Téa, you… this… this is the best thing that has _ever _happened to me. I want you to know that."

That warmed her all over. "Yeah, me too," she said, then added with a wry smile, "Well, I could do without the whole ship sinking thing."

He grinned at her and she wanted to kiss him again, almost ached to, but she knew they had a job to do. "I guess the water isn't going to find itself," she said with about as much enthusiasm as she might have for leaving a warm fireplace to go out into a downpour.

"No, I guess not," he agreed with the same lack of enthusiasm. "Better get to it, then." Taking her hand once more, they continued walking up over the rocks into the trees.

**

* * *

**

When they all made it back to the little beach it was nearly dinnertime and everyone was starving. Mako, as Mai expected he would, had caught a ridiculous amount of fish so they wouldn't have to eat the MREs again. He and some of the others had already cleaned and skewered them on sticks and were roasting them over a campfire that had been built at the base of the cliffs on the northwest end of the beach farthest away from where the landslide had wrecked their path back to where the rest of their shipmates were marooned. Rex and Weevil's group had also found plenty of edible plants and berries to add to the meal, although Mai was fairly certain neither Rex nor Weevil had actually contributed to the haul. Mai, feeling charitable, even passed around her backpack to everyone and shared from her private stash of candy bars, trail mix, and granola bars—well most of her stash, anyway. She did have a few things she was hoarding because they were too good to pass on. But the simple act of sharing her food brought back fond memories of how she'd first become friends with Joey and his gang at Duelist Kingdom.

The cliffs around the campfire were dotted with caves of varying sizes. There was enough room in the caves to shelter all thirty-eight of them. Another fire burned on the other end of the beach, that one primarily to be used to signal planes or ships.

Mai and Joey had found a stream not too far south of the beach where there was plenty of fresh water. Kaiba's group, in addition to finding the caves they could use as shelter, had explored the whole northeast section of the island. It did, indeed, seem to be completely cut off from the rest of the island by the ring of cliffs, although if it became absolutely necessary to get back, they could probably make it over the bluffs on the west side. There seemed to be plenty of caves in that direction, and even more past the stream to the south if the need for finding new shelter arose.

By the time dinner had been prepared, the mood among the thirty-eight passengers and crew in their small group was fairly upbeat as they gathered around the fire. Although they were shipwrecked and stranded on an island in the North Pacific, separated from the rest of their shipmates with no idea of their exact location and where the temperature ranged from just above freezing to around fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit, they had managed in just one day to make a rather comfortable camp. They were alive, they weren't all cramped in lifeboats on the ocean, they still had plenty of fish thanks to Mako Tsunami, they had water and shelter, and they all were even warming to the idea of continuing with the tournament the next day right here on their little private beach.

Even Pegasus's so called "Shadow Duelists" were all in rather good spirits despite what he had told them. After they'd spent some time mulling over his story, it seemed pointless to worry and continuing with the tournament seemed harmless enough. All things told, the atmosphere around the campfires, while falling short of festive, perhaps, was at least optimistic as they ate fish and enjoyed the fire under the slate gray sky.

For Mai, however, the evening was nothing short of euphoric.

She had worried about the reception she would receive from Joey's friends when they had first caught up with them after their talk morning, but for the most part they accepted her presence with little fanfare as if she had always been among them. Serenity was the only exception, and her greeting had been much more enthusiastic. Even Tristan, the one she'd worried most about, seemed to tolerate her presence with no animosity, although how much of that was the rapport they'd developed from working together to free Joey from the ship's gymnasium and how much of it was fear of getting on Serenity's bad side again she didn't know. Either way, he was pleasant enough to her and that was all she could ask for.

As for Yugi and Téa, by dinnertime they were so chummy with each other she wasn't even sure they noticed her at all. Normally that kind of thing would make her nauseous, but she was in such a good mood that as long as they didn't drift anywhere close to the realm of baby talk or pet names, she was inclined to cut them some slack. Truth be told, she was happy for them. Hell, she was just happy in general. Joey was back in her life and nothing, not being shipwrecked, not Pegasus's bizarre story or even the specter of the Shadow Realm could ruin her good spirits tonight.

After dinner, several people drifted off toward the caves to catch up on the sleep they had all missed the night before while others stayed and enjoyed the fire. Mai, who was reluctant to go to sleep, was glad that Joey and his friends—her friends, too, she reminded herself—all opted to stay. They all talked together for a while, then Joey, Tristan, and Duke tore Yugi away from Téa for "male bonding," which meant the poor kid was probably going to get worked over for details about Téa. Mai stayed at the fire and talked with Téa and Serenity while their friend Rebecca sat a ways off with Mokuba Kaiba. For someone sitting next to the hottest catch of the under-eighteen set, Mai thought she looked rather forlorn.

"Is she okay?" Mai asked the other two, indicating Rebecca with a jerk of her head. "I don't know her well, but she always struck me as pretty spunky. She looks awfully quiet over there with Mokuba."

Serenity and Téa regarded the pair of teenagers for a moment. "Well it was a pretty scary night last night," Téa said.

Mai raised her eyebrow at the irritation she heard in Téa's voice, but instead of commenting on it, said, "I saw her in California so I know she's seen worse." Then she mentally kicked herself for reminding them of California. However, if they noticed, they didn't say anything.

"Yeah, that's what I keep thinking, too," Téa agreed, still talking about Rebecca. "She's been acting kinda strange since we got here."

"She's probably jealous," Serenity grinned, nudging Téa. "Joey said she used to have a huge crush on Yugi. And speaking of," she added, hunching close to Téa and speaking quietly, "the boys are gone, so spill. Don't leave anything out."

Apparently Yugi wasn't the only one who was going to get pumped for details.

Téa looked rather embarrassed by this and Mai realized that while Serenity saw her as just one of the gang, perhaps Téa wasn't entirely comfortable sharing in her presence. "Why don't I let you two girls talk," she said, starting to get up from the rock where she was sitting, but Téa put a hand on her arm to stop her.

"It's okay, Mai, you don't have to go. Actually, I'm really glad you're here."

Mai smiled, touched by the gesture of friendship on Téa's part.

To Serenity, Téa answered, "There's nothing really to tell. We talked and you were right."

This clearly wasn't a good enough answer for Serenity. "Oh come _on!_ Sunday night you were hysterical and you avoided him all day Monday, then this morning you practically attacked him on the beach. I want to know how we got from Point A to Point B."

Mai cocked her head, curious. This was getting interesting.

"I told you, we talked and sorted everything out," Téa insisted,

"And?"

"And what?"

Serenity groaned in exasperation. "Did you tell him you love him?"

Mai leaned toward Téa and folded her hands under her chin. "Ooh, do tell, Téa," she said, although she could tell by Téa's expression what the answer was.

"Okay, yeah, I did."

"And?" Serenity prompted. "What did he say?"

"Actually, he said it first," Téa beamed despite her embarrassment.

Serenity squealed and Mai jumped back, startled. "Oh, Téa, this is huge," Serenity gushed, "_Huge!_ I told you! I _knew _he was in love with you! I'm so happy he finally got up the courage to tell you!"

"Yeah, last night. And then the ship blew up. Literally seconds later, like it was just waiting for the right moment. 'I love you.' BOOM!"

"NO!" Serenity cried. "Oh my God, what awful timing!"

"No kidding," Téa agreed.

"Okay, I have to ask," Mai said, unable to contain her curiosity any longer. "How is it that you two are just getting together now? It was so obvious all the way back in Duelist Kingdom that you two had a crush on each other, and then I was sure you'd gotten together when I saw you on a date in Battle City."

"You went on a date in _Battle City?" _Serenity roared. "How did I not know this?"

Téa colored. "Because that wasn't—" She stopped short, as if deciding against whatever track she'd started down and began again. "I mean, it wasn't a date, not really," she said, flashing Mai an irritated look. "We were just friends, we hung out together a lot, that's all. What?" she asked, when Mai crossed her arms and gave her a skeptical look. "It isn't easy admitting a friend is something more to you," she argued, giving Mai a somewhat discerning glare.

"I wouldn't know," Mai said flatly, ignoring the raised eyebrows she got in return. Steering the topic back to Téa, she added, "And then he finally does admit it and the ship blows up."

"This is the story of our lives," Téa moaned.

Serenity still wasn't satisfied, so she tried again to get more details, but Téa turned the tables on her by asking her about Tristan and Duke. Serenity was spared from answering when they were interrupted.

"Everything all right with you ladies? You've all had enough to eat and drink and are staying warm?"

Mai looked up to find Evan standing above them, ostensibly fulfilling his duties as head of their little team, but it was Mai he was looking at. She felt a mixture of anger and guilt—more anger than guilt, though—wash over her.

"We're good, thanks," Téa said politely.

"Yes, thank you," Serenity added.

"You doing okay after almost going over that cliff?" he asked Téa.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Téa replied, blushing a little.

Evan turned to Mai. "And you're doing okay too?"

"Never better," she answered in her coolest tone. Serenity and Téa both gave her curious looks but she ignored them, staring resolutely into the fire. After a moment, Evan asked, "Miss Valentine, I was wondering if I might have a word with you."

This annoyed Mai and brought more curious looks from Téa and Serenity. Her impulse was to blow him off, but remembering Joey's accusation that she still had a tendency to run from her problems, she decided to face him head on. "Of course," she bristled, getting up from the rock to follow him a little ways away from the fire toward one of the caves.

"You made some new friends," he said conversationally.

"No, I renewed some old ones," she corrected curtly.

"Okaaaay, I get it, you're mad at me. Care to tell me why?"

She crossed her arms and looked him in the eye. "Because one of those old friends almost died last night because of you."

This seemed to rattle him. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Last night when you insisted the ship's gym was empty and wasn't worth checking? My friend was trapped in there."

He regained his composure as understanding dawned on him. "I see. The other guy, the one arguing with me on the stairs, he's also one of your 'old friends'?" He shook his head. "You _conned_ me, didn't you? You were the distraction."

She shrugged. "You didn't leave me much choice. I have half a mind to sue the cruise line when we get back."

"I was doing my job, Mai. The whole Holiday Deck was unsafe and we _did _check for any passengers. It was supposed to be closed when the bomb went off anyway."

"That's another thing. I was in the weight room at two o'clock and it was not closed."

He frowned. "That's strange."

"But it doesn't matter. My friend _told _you he knew someone was down there. You should have at least checked it out."

He sighed. "You said you used to work on a cruise ship. Ever been through an emergency? People do crazy things. I was trying to keep him from going down to a level that was _taking on water._ That's my _job._ I'm really sorry your friend was down there and I'm glad you got him out. Even if you had to con me to do it."

She drummed her fingers on her arms irritably. _Joey almost died. _That fact diminished any others. But then, she was the last person to be in a position to judge anyone else. She had enough demons of her own. Exhaling slowly, she let it go. "Okay, fine."

He smiled and touched her shoulder. "Then you're not mad?"

"Yes, I _am _mad," she said, eyeing his hand on her shoulder, "but I'll get over it. And… you need to know, as much as I really appreciate how nice you've been and you've helped me out of a few really tight spots, I'm not looking for any kind of relationship right now."

"Well that's good, I was just hoping for a quick fling," he said with a salacious wink.

She narrowed her eyes and slapped his hand off her shoulder, to which he held up his hands defensively and said "Kidding! I'm just kidding!" When her expression didn't soften, he said, "I'm not looking for any kind of relationship right now either, okay? I'm here to do a job and that's all. If part of that job includes giving a beautiful woman a hand now and then, so much the better, but if you're all worried that you led me on and now I'm smitten, you can relax. And seriously, I was _kidding_ before. You need to _lighten up."_

She bristled, then took a deep breath. "Whatever. Just so we're clear."

"Perfectly." He touched the brim of his hat. "Good evening, Miss Valentine," he said cordially, then walked away.

With a sigh of relief, Mai returned to the fire where Serenity and Téa were sitting and saw that the four guys were returning as well.

"You boys done working over poor Yugi?" she asked with a grin. Yugi blushed but looked none the worse for wear.

"We were just coming back to see if you ladies needed an escort to our deluxe accommodations," Duke answered. "'Cause we're all pretty beat and some of you are dueling tomorrow."

"Which cave are we supposed to be sleeping in anyway?" Tristan asked.

"Let's just all walk over there together," Téa suggested. Yugi was already back at her side.

As they walked down toward the cliffs, Mai pulled Joey back. "Hey Joey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"I was curious. Why were you down in the gym last night anyway?"

"To play basketball. That's what you usually do on a basketball court, you know."

Mai ignored the sarcasm. "But why would you play basketball at two o'clock in the morning? Did someone suggest the idea to you or something?"

"That's kind of a weird question. Why would you think that?" he asked.

"Because one of the pursers told me the gym was supposed to close at one o'clock but it didn't. It seems a little odd, don't you think?"

His face darkened a bit. "Your purser friend _Evan?"_

She rolled her eyes and gave him a backhanded slap on the shoulder. "Would you stay on topic here? Isn't it strange that the gym never closed on the night you happened to go down there at two in the morning? It makes me wonder if someone didn't give you the idea."

His eyes widened as he saw where she was going. "You think maybe someone wanted me down there when the bombs went off?"

"Maybe."

He shook his head. "But no one gave me the idea. No one even knew I was there. I couldn't sleep so I got up to shoot some hoops. I do that when I'm frustrated."

"But what were you frustrated about? Rex Raptor maybe?"

"No," he said and she realized he was grinning and giving her a strange look.

"What?"

"I was frustrated with _you_.I really wanted to work things out with you and you'd just blown me off when I'd tried talking to you after that dinner thing Pegasus had in the Acropolis Club, remember?"

"Oh," she said, not sure how to respond to that. She remembered now that he had looked like he was trying to work through something that was bothering him. She'd even wondered if it had to do with her, but she'd not suspected then that it could possibly have been because he wanted to work things out. _Okay, Mai, now look who needs to stay on topic, _she scolded herself. "Then you don't think someone set you up?"

"I don't see how," he said. "But how about you, you were down there, too, right? You said you saw me."

"Yeah, but no one knew I was there either," she said, a sheepish smile spreading on her face. "I was there for pretty much the same reason you were, actually."

"You were frustrated with yourself for being such a royal pain too?" he said dryly.

"No, for not taking you down enough pegs, you pinhead," she shot back. "Which reminds me, when exactly will we get to duel each other? Because your ass is in serious need of some kicking, Joey Wheeler."

"Oh, I'd like to see you try!" he laughed haughtily.

"Just you wait. I have some new cards that can wipe out anything in that pathetic assortment of cards you so laughingly call a deck."

"Bring it on, baby, bring it on."

They started off after the others again and when they reached the cave where they would be sleeping, Joey looked around. "Uh… I'll be right back. Gotta use the little boy's tree."

"Yeah, thanks for sharing," she responded, wrinkling her nose as he went off in search of a secluded spot.

She started to go into the cave, but Tristan was waiting for her at the entrance. "Can I talk to you a second?"

"Uh, sure," she replied a little hesitantly. They stepped away from the cave opening together.

"I already thanked you for helping find Joey last night," Tristan began, "but I also want to apologize."

She sighed. "You don't have anything to apologize for, Tristan."

"Yeah, I do," he said. "I was really harsh that first night and I'm sorry. It's just, Joey is my best friend and I don't like seeing him get hurt."

"I know," she said. "I deserved it, Tristan, I get that."

"No, you didn't. I said you weren't a real friend, and you proved last night you are, so I guess I was wrong."

She only nodded, not sure what else to say.

"But Mai," he said, his eyes suddenly hard and his expression deadly serious. "Just don't hurt him again."

"Don't worry, my days of playing soul-stealing cards are over," she said as lightly as she could manage.

"It's not his _soul_ I'm worried about," Tristan replied, then without elaborating, ducked into the cave, leaving her alone.


	6. Big Brothers

**6. Big Brothers**

Yugi awoke Wednesday morning with a crick in his neck after sleeping curled up in a corner of the cave with Téa leaning against his arm. A fair trade-off, all things considered, but he was anxious to get up and stretch and had to go to the bathroom. He'd kill for a shower and a toothbrush, but knew he'd have to settle for splashing some water on his face and rinsing his mouth out. As carefully as he could so as not to wake anyone, he slid out from under Téa, lowering her gently to the ground.

She half opened her eyes and murmured, "What time is it?"

"Early," Yugi whispered, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Go back to sleep." She mumbled something unintelligible and then rolled over and fell back asleep.

As he slipped out, he did a headcount of his friends. He counted eight, including himself, Kaiba, and Mokuba. Who was missing? Looking over the sleeping faces once more, he realized Rebecca and Mai weren't there. Frowning, he left the cave and blinked in the sunshine that seemed a little too bright for five AM and pulled his jacket tighter around him against the brisk morning air.

After answering nature's call, his first order of business was finding Rebecca and Mai. He found Rebecca fairly quickly; she was sitting by the campfire watching Mako and Kenan's wife, Makena, cooking more fish for breakfast. She looked pretty subdued for Rebecca and he decided Mai could fend for herself.

"Hey Rebecca," he said. She looked up, acknowledged him with nod, and then went back to staring at the fire.

He sat down beside her. "You're up early. You okay?"

"We're shipwrecked in the North Pacific, no one knows where we are, someone is trying to kill us and reopen the Shadow Games, and oh yeah, it turns out I've got some kind of 'mark' from playing a Shadow Game I didn't even know I was playing when I was eight years old. I'm great, how are you? Oh, don't bother answering, I already know," she added, a note of bitterness to her voice. "You're _deliriously happy _'cause you have _Téa_ now."

Yugi was taken aback. "Whoa, where did that come from? Since when is that a problem? You've been giving me a hard time about Téa for two years now."

"Well yeah, but I didn't expect you to ignore everyone else because of her."

"Um, _excuse me? _I spent the whole morning walking up here with you!"

"Yeah, but ever since we made camp and you two went looking for water together, the rest of us might as well not even be alive."

"That's not—" he started to protest, but then closed his mouth with a snap. In truth, she probably was right. He'd been so elated after their time alone together that he had spent most of the rest of the night glued to her side and quite likely would not have noticed if Rebecca was trying to get his attention. Feeling a fresh round of guilt—he was supposed to be looking after her for the professor, after all—he put an arm around her shoulder. "You're right, Rebecca. I'm sorry."

She merely shrugged his arm off of her. "Forget it. No big deal."

"Come on, Rebecca, what's this about? You're not…" he trailed off, too self-conscious to finish the thought.

"Jealous?" She finished for him, rolling her eyes. "Oh puh-_lease._ Do we think highly of ourselves or _what?_ Seriously, let's think about it." She held out her two hands like a balance. First she indicated the left one. "We've got the total hotness that is Mokuba Kaiba—and oh yeah, let's not forget he's really obscenely rich and incredibly sweet—and we've got the total geekiness that is you. Hmmm, which is better?" She let her left hand, the one she had assigned to Mokuba, crash to her knee while her right hand flew up above her head. "Oh yeah, real close call there," she scoffed.

"Then why have you been avoiding him all day and hanging around me instead?"

This seemed to surprise her. _"Avoiding?_ I'm not avoiding him! I just… oh no, I hope he doesn't think…"

"It'll be fine, Rebecca, just go talk with him when he wakes up."

She nodded. "Yeah, I should." Then she took a deep breath and continued. "But just so you know, I was so over the little kid crush thing like two years ago, and yes, I know that's what it was and that I was never really your girlfriend," she added off his surprised look. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not particularly stupid."

"I know you're not stupid, Rebecca. And okay, you're not jealous, but if that's not it, then what? What more can I do but apologize? Would it help if I admitted you were right all along? I guess I had been 'pining,' to use your word, and now that Téa and I have talked about how we feel, it's all kind of new and… distracting, I guess. But I'll try to be a better friend to you and look out for you."

She looked at him. "Like you did when the ship went down?"

"Hey, I already explained about that, and that had nothing to do with me spending time with Téa anyway. She was with _you,_ remember? I know I have a responsibility to you, and I really will try to be better about it, but when stuff like this happens, Rebecca, I have a responsibility to _everybody, _too."

"Why? You're not the kid with the spirit of a Pharaoh living in your head anymore, are you?"

"No," he said, "but if the Shadow Realm leaves some kind of mark, don't you think that would too? He's never really going to be gone, that's what I realized over the last couple of years as I got used to having his memories. And let's face it, what has everybody been saying since we got here? Tristan joked that no one has tried to steal his soul since he and I have been apart. Mai said if I was here, the world must need saving. Téa said that three days into the trip was too soon to tell if it was going to get weird and not _half an hour later_ the engines blew up and the first thing she said was 'three days on a ship with Yugi Mutou, something strange was bound to happen.'

"As much as I say none of this stuff is my fault, as much as I know it really isn't, it always centers around _me _because of who I am or who I used to be or whatever, but Rebecca, that gives me a _responsibility _when stuff like this happens. Innocent people get caught in the crossfire because of psychos trying to use _me _to get some kind of power. Me and Kaiba both, actually, and Pegasus, too. That makes it our responsibility to _do _something, and that night seeing Pegasus was a priority, more than staying with you or even Téa, even though I'd only just found out that she wants to be with me.

"But I didn't forget you," he told her. "I sent her to go find you and make sure you got on the lifeboat. Maybe I shouldn't have left it to her. Maybe I could've waited to see Pegasus and stayed with you instead. But at the time I needed to know what was going on because I needed to know if I was supposed to _do _anything about it. Do you understand?"

"I understand," she said, "but if you're feeling so _responsible _for everyone, then yesterday when you were so busy making goo-goo eyes at Téa, did you even _notice _that something is really wrong?"

He frowned. "What do you mean? Someone _blew up our ship._ I kind of noticed! Or are you talking about what Pegasus said about the Shadow Realm?"

"No, Yugi, it's not any of that. I mean like _Egypt_. Can't you _feel _it?"

This stopped him cold. "What do you mean, like Egypt?"

"You know exactly what I mean, how it was the last few months. Why do you think I've been sticking so close to you? You're the only one who could understand. You're the only one who made it okay when we were there. I _hated _it, Yugi. I… I was so depressed all the time."

"I know. It was great getting back to Cairo, even with the missing passports and everything. It was like you were _you _again." He put his hand over hers. "Look, Rebecca, no matter how much of a hard time I give you about you being annoying or whatever, I _like _you like that. You have so much life. I hated seeing what Egypt did to you."

"Well, it's like that here. Everything just feels _wrong, _and you'd feel it too if you weren't so preoccupied with your new girlfriend."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Egypt had felt… like gloom and despair and death. This place felt alive, despite everything that had happened. Or did it? Was Rebecca right? Was his euphoria over finally being with Téa overriding any instincts he might have about this place and the danger they were in?

"I don't feel anything strange," he admitted, opening his eyes again and looking at her, "but maybe you're right. Maybe I have been too preoccupied with Téa. I'll try and be more aware. If you're right, it could have something to do with the Shadow Realm. What we felt in Egypt might have, too, if Pegasus is right and that's when all those tomb thefts were taking place."

She only nodded.

"Rebecca, what can I do to help you? I want to know how I can be your friend right now."

She sighed and closed her eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"It's just… do you have any idea how hard it is to make friends when you're a child prodigy? Well, maybe you do, actually. But still, you were at least in school with people your own age even if you were really different from them. I was in Duel Monsters tournaments since I was six and in college by the time I was ten. People my age were never mature enough for me and people of my maturity level were too old to want to hang out with a little kid. You were my first friend _ever, _Yugi, and even then not really because we really weren't ever in the same place for very long and I know you weren't really all that interested in hanging out with a little kid either, but you didn't _treat _me like I was just a little kid, you _treated _me like a friend. You gave me that Ties of Friendship card. It's probably why I had that crush on you when I saw you in Domino a couple years later, and then again in California right after that, which was really cool despite everything that happened because we did get to spend time together, especially with that KC Grand Championship tournament. Trust me, though; I got over the crush thing _quick _when you moved in with Grandpa and me. You can be really annoying when you're around all the time, you know that?"

"_I _can be annoying?" he asked, incredulous.

"But still, I feel like we got to be _real_ friends the last two years when it was just you and me and a bunch of old stuffy archaeologists. Not like I'm just a little kid you have to take care of, but a real friend."

"That's right," he agreed. "I already told you, you're like a sister to me."

She gave him an odd look. "I… I used to have a big brother. Did you know that?"

Yugi felt his jaw drop. "What? No, I didn't know that."

"He died in the car crash with my parents when I was a baby," she said.

He wasn't sure what to say. He knew Rebecca's parents had been killed when she was very young, but she'd never really talked about it before and neither she nor her grandfather had ever mentioned a brother. "Rebecca, how could I have lived with you and your grandpa for two years and not known this?"

She shrugged. "I don't think about it much, really. I was a baby so I don't remember any of them. His name was David. He was seven when he died, so I guess he would've been about your age."

She looked down. "Actually, that's not exactly true—that I don't think about it much, I mean. When I was little I used to pretend that David was my guardian angel." She blushed. "It's stupid, I know. It's just… Grandpa was always such a great 'dad' I never missed my parents much. I know that sounds awful, but it's hard to miss parents you never remember having when you have someone like grandpa. But I'd always wished I could have known my brother, someone who would've been my friend when everyone else was too old or when I didn't fit in because I was too smart.

"When I met you," she looked back up at Yugi, "I imagined that David would've been like you, and then I felt bad for trying to replace him, so I decided you would be a better boyfriend. But I think… I think I like you as a big brother. Maybe David would understand."

Yugi put his arm around her and pulled her toward him. This time she didn't try and shrug him off. "I'm sure he would, Rebecca. I would love to be your big brother. You are very important to me. You're… _Imouto-chan_, you know that?" he added, using the Japanese endearment for "little sister" because the English phrase didn't quite convey the full meaning.

She seemed pleased by this. "Really?"

"Really."

"Then you're _Onii-chan?"_

Having been an only child all his life, it felt foreign to him to be called "big brother." But he liked it, too. "Yeah, I guess so."

Rebecca beamed for a moment, then grew more somber. "I just don't want that to change, Yugi. I don't want you to love Téa so much that there isn't room for me anymore."

"That won't happen," he promised solemnly. "You will always be important to me. And I will try to be more aware of that and more aware of the other stuff you were talking about, but you have to cut me a _little _bit of slack, okay? Not counting you, I have never even had a girl like me before—"

"Vivian Wong," she interrupted with a sneer of distaste.

"Okay, I've never had a _sane _girl like me before," he amended with a sheepish grin, "so this is _really _new to me and really overwhelming, okay? Can you be patient with me as I try to figure out how this new relationship fits in my life?"

"Okay."

"And I need you to tell me what you notice about things being wrong here, because that could be really important, Rebecca. You might be noticing something the rest of us aren't picking up on yet and it could be really, really important. And if I can help make it easier for you, I want to. I've got your back, I promise. And I need you to watch mine."

She nodded then gave him a sly grin. "You really wanna cheer me up? Let me spend some time with Mokuba without Kaiba or you or Duke hanging over our shoulders."

"Ha! You forget—"

"I'm only thirteen, I know! I wish you wouldn't feel the need to remind me every fifteen seconds!"

"Actually, I was going to say you forget I'm the 'big brother.' And Duke sort of sees himself as your big brother, too, you know. So now you have two big brothers _and _a guardian angel brother and you can bet _none _of us are gonna let you wander off alone for too long with some boy, even if it's Mokuba Kaiba and we trust him. Mostly. Got it, _Imouto-chan?"_ he added with a smile.

"Whatever, _Onii-chan,"_ she scowled. "It must be a Japanese thing. You Japanese big brothers are _way _too overprotective."

"Hey, you think I'm bad? At least _Joey_ isn't your big brother. According to him I should consider all males scum and shouldn't trust any of them to even get near you."

"This is true," she agreed. "If I were Serenity, I'd have killed him by now. Okay, so all things considered you aren't the _worst _big brother ever."

"No, third or fourth worst, tops." She laughed at this and he said, "See, I can cheer you up even without Mokuba."

"Speaking of, he's dueling first today. I should go see if he's awake yet."

"It's still early, not even six o'clock yet."

"Really? Eh, it's this stupid sun coming up so early. It feels like eight or nine already."

"Why don't we just talk some more since no one else is up yet? I'll even let you gush about how _dreamy _Mokuba is."

She made a disgusted face. "Okay, who talks like that? 'Dreamy.' Really." She rolled her eyes. "You can be such a loser sometimes, you know that?"

"Now I know you've been hanging out with the Kaibas too much," he grinned.

**

* * *

**

It was about six thirty when Téa woke up to find Yugi gone. She was relieved to find him the first place she looked, by the fire eating breakfast. She felt a flash of annoyance, however, when she saw Rebecca sitting close to him, still cloyingly possessive as they laughed at some shared joke. Biting back her irritation, she smiled and called out, "Hey Yugi!"

He turned and smiled brightly when he saw her, which improved her mood considerably. "Hey, Téa, come have some breakfast," he said, sliding closer to Rebecca to make room for her on his other side.

"What is there?"

"Pretty much fish and MREs. Although Mako says some of the MREs have gone missing, along with Kenan Bagatui's backpack."

"No big loss on the MREs," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Can I just say how much I'm already really missing those extravagant buffets?" She went to the fire and got some fish and some dried fruit from Makena Bagatui, then returned to sit down next to Yugi.

"Hey," he said a little shyly. "You sleep okay?"

"Pretty good, considering. When did you get up? I don't remember you leaving."

"Around five. How about the others, are they awake yet?"

"Uh, Duke was just starting to move when I left, but everyone else was asleep. I didn't see Mai, though."

"Yeah, me neither. She and Rebecca were both already gone when I woke up."

"I saw her," Rebecca said. "She got up around the same time I did and went to take a walk in the woods."

"Alone?" Yugi frowned. "I don't know if that's a good idea. We really should stick together. And that means you, too," he finished, giving Rebecca a pointed look.

"Yeah yeah, _Onii-chan," _she said, and they both smiled and he nudged her with his shoulder as if they were sharing a private joke.

Trying to ignore that, Téa said, "I'd like to see you try and tell Mai what to do."

"Yeah, that would go over well, would it?" Yugi agreed wryly.

Before too long, other passengers started trickling over and a line formed at the fire to get food. Mai showed up and after greeting them, headed for the food line. She was followed soon after by Kaiba and Mokuba. To Téa's delight, when Mokuba appeared, Rebecca excused herself to go talk with him. Before she left, Yugi took her elbow and said simply, "Remember." She seemed to understand what that meant because she nodded and he let her go.

"What was that all about?" Téa asked Yugi.

"Nothing. Just something we were talking about earlier."

She felt another flash of annoyance, but he took her hand absently in both of his and immediately it melted away.

"So I guess we continue the tournament today," he said, with little enthusiasm.

"You don't sound too happy about that," she observed.

"I'm worried. If the goal of sinking the ship was stopping the tournament, what will happen if we continue?"

"There's only thirty-eight out of over four hundred of us here. Odds are the saboteur is on the other side of the island."

"Rex and Weevil are here, and I don't trust them," he pointed out. "And even if it wasn't them, it might have been someone else who knocked those boulders down on you and Mokuba."

"Yeah, I'm worried, too," she agreed. "You be careful, okay?"

He put his arm around her and pulled her close so that her head rested on his shoulder. "Always."

Mai, holding a stick with some chunk of fish skewered on it, sat down and joined them. "I am so over fish," she said, wrinkling her nose at her breakfast. "I could really go for an omelet right about now."

"You and me both," Téa agreed.

"Where were you, Mai?" Yugi asked. "I didn't see you when I got up."

"It was kind of hard to sleep once the sun came up, even in that cave, so I took a walk," she answered. "Although apparently no one else had any trouble. The rest of the gang still sleeping?"

"I guess not," Téa said as she saw Tristan, Joey, Serenity, and Duke appear.

When they all had their breakfast, they sat together near the fire and talked about the upcoming duels, which were to be held on the beach one at a time. From what Goradon had said, they were going to try and do all eight division finals today.

A little before eight, they all headed back down to the beach where Mokuba would duel Jacques Rousseau, a lanky Frenchman with a nasty disposition, for the Green Division title. When they arrived at the beach, Goradon, Croquet, and the other IDMTC guy, Nelson, were scurrying around preparing for the duels. What they could possibly have to do that would make them all look so busy, Téa couldn't begin to imagine. Once a space was cleared, all they really needed were the duelists, their duel disks, and one judge. Yet here they were, looking as if they were setting up a stadium match that would be televised worldwide. Pegasus perched like a sleek cat on top of a rock, surveying the activity.

Mokuba and Jacques Rousseau stood waiting near Pegasus while the other duelists and guests formed a rough semi-circle around the swath of beach where they would be dueling. Kaiba took up a position near the edge of the group, his face impassive as he waited for his brother's duel to begin. Rebecca stood near him, ready to cheer for Mokuba. Téa, Yugi, Joey, Mai, Tristan, Serenity, and Duke stood in a group not far from Rebecca and Kaiba.

Eventually the IDMTC guys seemed to run out of things to do. Mr. Goradon made some sort of speech that was mostly lost in the wind, although Téa figured that was probably for the best. Pegasus, his voice carrying better over the wind and surf, announced the Green Division final and introduced Jacques and Mokuba. The two competitors met in the middle of the group of onlookers and exchanged decks to shuffle. Once both decks were returned to their owners, the two competitors inserted them into their duel disks, took up positions on opposite sides of the beach, and the duel began.

Téa could see from the beginning that Jacques had earned his reputation as a rather brutal duelist. His monster cards were primarily Fire monsters with some pretty nasty effects. Mokuba's deck was built around Wind monsters and winged beasts. Téa realized that in all the time she'd known Mokuba, she'd only seen him duel once, when he was only ten and didn't really know how to play the game. At first he played like she would expect based on his personality; he was shrewd but level and did not tend to engage in the kind of gloating and mean-spirited attacks his brother favored.

As the duel progressed, however, both sides seemed to get more and more brutal. With the holographic duel disks, attacks to monsters and especially to a competitor's Life Points were very realistic and could take a lot of physical strength to withstand, but for some reason this duel seemed a little more _real,_ with both duelists seeming to take more punishment than the holographic attacks usually dished out. After Mokuba had been knocked back more than once by Jacques's Tyrant Dragon, a monster with twenty-nine hundred attack points that could attack twice in one turn so long as the opponent still had a monster left on the field, he started playing with a kind of vindictiveness that Téa would expect from Kaiba, but never from Mokuba.

"Does Mokuba always duel like that?" Téa asked Yugi. "I know he's Kaiba's little brother, but I never expected him to be so, I don't know… _mean."_

"Hm," was all Yugi replied. He was watching the duel intently, a deep frown on his face. As the duel went on, she noticed he seemed to withdraw more and more, as if he were the one dueling.

It ended when Jacques successfully summoned a Lava Golem on Mokuba's side of the field. Téa shuddered as she remembered the last time she'd seen that monster, when Marik's _Yami _side had used it in his Shadow Game against Joey. Though Jacques had given Mokuba a monster with three thousand attack points, its special effect inflicted one thousand points of damage to its controller's Life Points each turn. When Mokuba tried to use the Golem against Jacques, it ended up trapped in a Spellbinding Circle, which left it unable to attack. Mokuba could not get rid of it before it drained his Life Points to zero and the duel was over.

Jacques, however, didn't seem to be finished with Mokuba. Though already the winner, he had his Tyrant Dragon attack one more time, and the force of the blow knocked an already weary Mokuba off his feet.

This put everyone into an uproar. Rebecca leapt to Mokuba's side while Kaiba immediately flew into a rage. "You little worm, who do you think you are? Anyone who messes with my brother messes with _me!" _He made a threatening move in Jacques direction and Croquet and Nelson raced to hold him back while Nelson, who had been refereeing, started shouting at Jacques that the duel was over and he was to turn off his duel disk immediately or forfeit the match.

While all of this was going on, Mokuba jumped to his feet and brushed Rebecca aside with a roar of rage. Téa clapped her hand over her mouth in shock as the teenager pulled a card from his deck and slammed it into the monster slot on his disk. Spirit Ryu, a giant, ethereal blue dragon appeared over his head. Mokuba then discarded two dragon cards to increase Spirit Ryu's attack from one thousand to three thousand.

Kaiba shook himself loose from the two men holding him back. In two long strides he was at his brother's side. Clapping a hand down on his shoulder protectively, he growled across the field to Jacques. "You just _try _and attack my brother again, you pathetic sack of slime!"

"This duel is over!" Nelson cried out again, running onto the middle of the field between Mokuba and Jacques. "Both competitors will be disqualified if they do not turn off their duel disks _immediately!" _He turned to Kaiba. "Mr. Kaiba, return to the sidelines or you will also be disqualified from this tournament!"

"Not until I know this piece of filth isn't going to go after my brother again!"

"Non-duelists may _not _enter the field during a match!" the referee insisted.

"The duel is over!" Kaiba shot back.

But then the Spirit Ryu suddenly flickered and winked out of existence. Mokuba had turned off his duel disk. "It's okay, Seto," he said, sounding more dazed than angry now, "it's over, let's get out of here."

"Mr. Rousseau?" Nelson demanded. With a sneer of disdain, Jacques turned off his duel disk and his monsters disappeared as well.

"Jacques Rousseau is the winner of the Green Division and will move on to the tournament quarter finals," Nelson announced, but clearly he was still very angry. "But be advised, any more nonsense outside the bounds of a duel and you will be disqualified." He glared first at Jacques, then at the Kaiba brothers. "The next duel will begin in fifteen minutes: Zigfried von Schroeder and Christine Aileas for the Red Division Championship!"

"What was _that?" _Mai asked. "I'd expect that from Kaiba, but Mokuba?"

"I don't know, if that guy had gone after me like that, I woulda done the same thing," Joey argued.

"Well, I'd expect that from you, too. You have all the self-control of a rhino, but Mokuba?" Mai shot back.

Joey growled at her, but Yugi held up his hand, a deep frown still etched in his face. "What about this Jacques Rousseau? Is he normally this aggressive."

Mai nodded. "I've seen him compete a lot on the European circuit. Had to duel him a couple of times myself. Actually, assuming I win my division, I'll be dueling him next. Violet versus Green in the quarterfinals. But yeah, that was pretty par for the course for Jacques I'm afraid."

"He's a real piece of work, isn't he?" Joey added.

"Guys, did the monsters seem more seem more souped-up than usual to you?" Téa asked.

"Yeah, actually," Joey replied immediately. "Mokuba really got hammered there, more than you'd expect from the duel disks. Weird."

"Hm," Yugi nodded, lost in his own world again.

"Yugi?" Téa asked, but his attention was back on the field where the Kaibas were now standing off to the side, Mokuba reassuring his brother that he was all right. Rebecca hung back from them, a very disturbed expression on her face.

"Rebecca," Yugi said thoughtfully, and Téa looked at back at him.

"Yugi?" she asked again.

"I'll be right back," he said distractedly and headed off toward Rebecca.

Téa gave an irritated grunt and went after him, but she only made it several steps before someone grabbed her arm from behind and held her back.

"No you don't," Joey said, leaning close and speaking softly near her ear.

"Joey Wheeler, let go of me!" she cried in frustration.

"Nothin' doin' Téa. It's just petty and you're better than that."

"What are you talking about?" she grumbled, shaking her arm out of his grasp.

"You know what I'm talking about. She is _not _a threat to you. She's a _kid _and he is _nuts _about you."

Téa started to stammer another denial, but then her shoulders slumped and she growled again in the back of her throat. "I don't know why she bugs me so much," she admitted petulantly.

"She bugs everyone. It's what she does. But she's Yugi's _friend, _like a sister to him, and you do _not _wanna be in the business of deciding who his friends are."

"No," Téa agreed with a sigh, "I don't. It's just… ooooh, she makes me crazy sometimes. I think it's because she gets so possessive with all the 'boyfriend' stuff and grabbing his arm and don't look at me like that because I _know _she's too young, but it still gets on my nerves!"

"Well you're gonna have to deal with it because like it or not, she's an important part of his life. They lived in the same house for two years and they shared a pretty miserable experience the last six months from the sounds of it. This duel on top of everything else obviously upset her and he needs to be there for her. You need to stay out of it."

"I know, I know. Oooh, I hate it when you're right," she grumbled. When he gave her a cocky grin in return, she added, "Lucky for me it's a pretty rare occurrence."

**

* * *

**

While Croquet, Nelson, and Goradon tried to restore order and clear out the field to get ready for the next duel, Yugi headed for Rebecca. He glanced at Kaiba and Mokuba when he passed; Kaiba was still fuming but Mokuba looked okay. Still, it was odd. Shaking his head, he bypassed them and found Rebecca off to the side.

"You okay?" he asked.

She nodded blankly, still watching Mokuba.

"Rebecca?"

She looked up at him now. "That was awful," she said.

Yugi nodded. "Something's wrong, isn't it?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You feel it too now?"

"Yes. I started noticing it right after the duel started. You were right, Rebecca, something is very wrong. It _does _feel like Egypt. I think I was right. I think what we felt in Egypt was because whoever stole those relics was trying to bring back the Shadow Games. That's what we feel here, too."

She hugged herself, suddenly looking very small. Her attitude had always made her seem larger than life despite her youth and petite size, he realized. It was disconcerting to see her look small. Just like she had in Egypt the last six months. It had only been on their return trip to Cairo that she'd gone back to her prattling, annoying self. It had been such a relief to feel like themselves again, he'd almost immediately shut out of his mind how bad it had been for her.

He put his hands on her shoulders. "Rebecca, it'll be okay. I promise you, we'll stop this. I won't let the Shadow Realm be reopened."

She just nodded and then Mokuba and Kaiba joined them. "Rebecca, are you okay?" Mokuba asked, his voice thick with concern and regret. "I am _so _sorry I shoved you aside like that. I didn't mean to. I just got so _mad _at the way that jerk was playing."

"I'm okay," she said, brightening a little.

"Are you sure? I feel terrible for acting that way. I really like you, Rebecca, I wouldn't want—"

He never got to finish what he was saying because Rebecca threw her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

"Puppy love," Kaiba sneered contemptuously, but Yugi thought he saw a hint of amusement in Kaiba's eyes.

"Kaiba, what do you know about this Jacques Rousseau?" Yugi asked, pulling the other man aside.

"That he's a dead man if he ends up dueling me," Kaiba responded menacingly.

"He'll be dueling the winner of the Violet Division next."

"Valentine, then," Kaiba assumed. "He'd better pray she beats him and he doesn't get to the finals."

"Kaiba, would you forget about revenge for a minute? Something was very _wrong _about this duel. Why would he attack Mokuba after the duel was over? And does Mokuba usually duel like that?"

"Mokuba is an excellent duelist," Kaiba retorted.

Yugi gnashed his teeth in frustration. "Kaiba, I'm not questioning his abilities, I'm just asking if he was out of character during that duel? I've never seen him duel, not since he was ten and didn't really know how, anyway, so I don't know his style, but I do know his personality and he's not like—"

"Like me?" Kaiba asked with a smirk.

"Well, yes. Is it normal for him to play so aggressively and to get so angry?"

"No, but given the circumstances, it was certainly justified."

"Yes," Yugi admitted. "But still, something wasn't _right. _It makes me wonder what this Jacques Rousseau is up to."

Kaiba's eyes widened as he realized what Yugi was getting at. "You think he's the one who sank the ship? Or sent that boulder down onto Mokuba?"

"Possibly. This duel felt… dark. Like a Shadow Game."

"You listen to too many of Pegasus's ghost stories," Kaiba scoffed.

"And you don't listen enough," Yugi shot back. "You _know _the Shadow Games are real and you _know _there was something wrong with that duel."

Kaiba glared at Yugi. "The Shadow Games may be real, but the only thing I know for sure about that duel is that he attacked my brother unprovoked. But you might be onto something about Jacques being involved with the ship going down. He isn't exactly a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize."

"We should keep an eye on him."

"It would be my pleasure," Kaiba smiled malevolently.


	7. Return of the Shadow Games

**7. Return of the Shadow Games**

Yugi, Rebecca, and Mokuba gathered with the others to watch the next duel. Kaiba stayed off in the background and kept a close eye on Jacques Rousseau while the rest of them gathered together at the sidelines. Yugi kept Rebecca by his side, and Mokuba hovered near her as well, still feeling bad about pushing her aside when he went to defend himself against Jacques's post-duel attack. Téa, standing on his other side, seemed strangely subdued.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah. I was going to ask you the same thing," she said, but before he could answer her, Croquet moved to the center of the field and announced next duel.

The Red Division final pitted Zigfried von Schroeder against Christine Aileas. Yugi had never seen Christine, a fourteen-year-old from America, duel, but she was one of the girls Rebecca went to the movies with the night the ship sank and seemed nice enough. A little bossy, like Rebecca, and prone to temper outbursts, but not an overly fierce duelist.

Zigfried von Schroeder, on the other hand, Yugi had met along with his brother, Leon, at Kaiba's KC Grand Championship tournament three years earlier. Zigfried and Leon were very similar to Kaiba and Mokuba; they were about the same age as the Kaibas, with older brother Zigfried rather cold and brutal while younger brother Leon was more gentle, though unlike the Kaibas, the younger of the two was the better duelist. Zigfried favored Goddess and Valkyrie cards, while Christine had a strong Fairy deck.

The duel held few surprises. Zigfried was merciless, but less so than Jacques. Christine, though quite skilled, didn't stand a chance against his triple-goddess combination of Goddess Skuld's Oracle, Goddess Belldandy's Guardian, and Goddess Urd's Altar. When her Life Points hit zero, she turned off her duel disk and stalked off the field without saying a word.

Yugi, who had kept Rebecca close at his side during the duel, turned to her. "How did this one seem to you?"

She shrugged. "Something still doesn't feel right, but it's more general. Not like the last one."

Yugi agreed, but he couldn't help but pointing out with a nod of his head toward Mokuba, "Are you sure you're not too _preoccupied?"_

She scowled and stuck her tongue out at him in return, but at least she was more like her old self. Yugi felt a little of the tension that had been building in him since Mokuba's duel started drain away.

"What was that all about?" Téa asked.

"I'll tell you later."

The third duel of the day was even more uneventful. It was the Orange Division final, Leon von Schroeder against Lawrence Andrews. Lawrence was another duelist Yugi had never seen duel before. He had a Fiend deck and a kind of erratic style that was disconcerting. He almost seemed to have no strategy at all, so when he successfully performed the Contract with the Dark Master Ritual to summon Dark Master Zorc, he took Leon by surprise. Leon quickly recovered, however, and used Mirror Force to negate its attack and destroy all Lawrence's monsters in attack position. Then he was able to quickly finish him off with Hex Trude. The duel had been the most civil of the morning and nothing seemed amiss.

The last duel of the morning before they broke for lunch would be the White Division final. Since this was Kaiba's duel and Mokuba wanted to be up front, Rebecca also wanted to be up front, which meant Yugi in turn wanted to be up front. As they made their way toward the edge of the circle of people surrounding the field, Yugi asked Mai and Joey about Kaiba's opponent, Raul Pérez, a wiry Argentinean of about eighteen. Like many of the other duelists who had risen up in the ranks over the last two years, Raul was someone Yugi had not heard much about.

"I don't know much about the South American Circuit," Mai shrugged, "but I have heard of him. He uses primarily machine monsters and has a reputation for being pretty obnoxious."

"Sounds like Bandit Keith," Joey sniffed, referring to the American duelist who had conned his way into the Duelist Kingdom finals where he cheated against—and eventually lost to—Joey.

"Pretty much. Or Jacques Rousseau. This could be another ugly duel," Mai warned, "especially with Kaiba as his opponent. He's not going to take any crap from anybody."

"No," Yugi agreed.

Mai's summary proved fairly accurate. Both duelists began hard and fast with Drillago on Raul's side of the field and Battle Ox on Kaiba's. They were both aggressive players with high-powered monsters and complex spells and traps. As the duel progressed, they hit each other harder and more viciously, and Yugi felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to stand on end. _This feels wrong again._

Rebecca clearly felt it, too. As Mokuba moved forward and cheered enthusiastically for his brother, Rebecca shrunk backwards until she was practically on top of Yugi. He put his hands on her shoulders and gripped them tightly to reassure her.

"You two okay?" Téa asked, her voice tinged with concern.

Yugi shook his head. "Something's not right."

"Is anything _ever_ right when Kaiba duels?" Joey asked. "He is one mean duelist."

"No," Mai said, and Yugi noticed that she was standing hugging herself as if cold. Although it was windy on the beach and the temperature couldn't be more than fifty-five degrees or so not counting the wind-chill, her lined leather jacket should have been more than ample to keep her warm.

"Whaddaya mean, no?" Joey asked. "When has Kaiba ever played nice?"

"I don't mean about Kaiba. Or Raul, for that matter. I'd expected it to be ugly, but… Yugi's right. Something's wrong. Don't you _feel_ it?"

"What are you talking about, Mai?" Téa asked, worried.

She just shook her head. "I don't know. The attacks seem more real, don't they? Didn't you say you noticed that in Mokuba's duel?"

"Yeah, actually, I think you're right. Think maybe the duel disks are going wonky?"

"No, it's more than that," Yugi replied.

Joey looked at Yugi. "Yuge?"

Yugi, however, could no more explain his disquiet than Mai could. It didn't feel like a Shadow Game, exactly, at least not like any of the ones he had participated in or witnessed. It was more like Egypt, that _disconnected _feeling that the part of him that was _him, _that was _Yugi, _was retreating deep inside. It almost gave him a sort of claustrophobic sensation. "I don't know either, Joey."

By the time Kaiba had summoned one of his Blue-Eyes White Dragons to the field, he had only five hundred Life Points while Raul had twenty-eight hundred with Perfect Machine King in attack mode and Launcher Spider and Barrel Dragon in defense mode on the field. Kaiba played one facedown card, then destroyed Barrel Dragon. As Perfect Machine King gained five hundred attack points for every machine-type monster on Raul's side of the field, the demise of Barrel Dragon knocked its attack points down from thirty-seven hundred to thirty-two hundred, still two hundred more than Blue-Eyes. Raul laughed at Kaiba's stupidity for leaving Blue-Eyes open to attack from Perfect Machine King. He played a facedown card, then Giga Tech Wolf in attack mode and also switched Launcher Spider to attack mode. Perfect Machine King attacked Blue-Eyes, but Kaiba activated his trap card, Tyrant Wing, which added four hundred attack points to Blue-Eyes. Perfect Machine King was destroyed and Raul lost two hundred Life Points. He also no longer had anything powerful enough to attack Blue-Eyes. Howling in rage, he hurled some choice invectives at Kaiba, who merely laughed in return.

On Kaiba's turn, he summoned Kaiser Sea Horse in attack mode. Blue-Eyes attacked Launcher Spider, but Raul activated his facedown card, Dragon Capture Jar, which forced Blue-Eyes into defense mode. Kaiba still was able to destroy Giga Tech Wolf with Kaiser Sea Horse and knock Raul down another five hundred Life Points, but Raul still had twenty-one hundred left. Raul then played a monster card face down and ended his turn. Kaiba played Monster Reborn to summon Barrel Dragon from Raul's graveyard. It's special effect allows him to toss a coin and if he got two heads out of three, he could destroy any card on Raul's side of the field. He tossed a heads, tails, then heads again and destroyed the Dragon Capture Jar, freeing his Blue-Eyes. Barrel Dragon attacked the facedown card, which was Acrobat Monkey with eighteen hundred defense points and Blue-Eyes attacked Raul's Life Points directly, ending the game.

Raul was shocked. Having been up by twenty-three hundred Life Points when Kaiba had summoned Blue-Eyes, he had expected to win. He started ranting in Spanish and making gestures that clearly were not friendly.

Kaiba, who spoke no Spanish but knew enough human nature to know when he was being cursed, stalked forward, his eyes cold and lethal. "You wanna repeat that in a language I can understand, you coward?"

"I don't speak _imbécil!" _Raul spat back as he and Kaiba both lunged at each other.

"Kaiba, no!" Yugi cried out, while at the same moment Mokuba jumped out from the sidelines and launched himself at his brother.

"Seto, no! They'll disqualify you!" he cried. He grabbed his brother by the arm and pulled him back. "You won, leave it alone now!"

Croquet reached Kaiba at the same time. "This duel is over. Back off, Mr. Kaiba, or you will be disqualified."

Kaiba immediately complied, though he gave Raul another hard glare.

"Well that was fun," Joey quipped as Kaiba shook free of Mokuba and stalked past them off the field, his brother trailing after.

Yugi just shook his head and looked down at Rebecca who was still pressed back against him.

"I don't think that was fun at all," Rebecca said quietly.

**

* * *

**

"I don't know, guys, it seemed like a typical Kaiba duel," Joey said as they sat around the campfire eating a quick lunch during the break in the dueling. "What makes you think something is wrong?"

"A feeling," Yugi replied.

Joey had to admit he didn't like the way his friend looked moody and uncomfortable. It made him think more of the Pharaoh than of Yugi. Mai also didn't look very happy. She was sitting next to him with a skewer of fish and some trail mix from her own stash, but wasn't eating much. Not that Joey could blame her; after only about twenty-eight hours stuck here, he was already thoroughly sick of fish. She also wasn't talking much, which for Mai was cause for worry.

"Are we talking Shadow Games here? Do you think Raul and Jacques are both involved with all of this or something?" Tristan asked.

"I don't know," Yugi admitted.

Joey looked at Mai, concerned. Images of the barbaric Shadow Game Marik's _Yami _side had forced her into haunted him. Her duel was next and he wasn't sure if he could watch her go through something like that again. Nudging her with his shoulder, he asked, "You okay, Mai? Maybe we should try and get Pegasus to postpone the rest of the tournament until we get back to San Francisco."

He could almost see the walls go up as she put on a confident expression. "No, I'm good. I'm looking forward to it, actually. I always feel best when I'm dueling. Besides, I've seen my opponent duel. She's not exactly the Shadow Games type."

Joey gave a short nod, but he was not happy. He would give anything for a huge sledgehammer that could smash those walls into oblivion. She was one of the strongest people he knew, but he wished she would let herself lean on others, on _him _more. Isn't that what she'd said she wanted to do in her apology letter?

"What about Jacques and Raul. Does anyone know if there's any connection between them?" Téa asked.

"I've never seen them hang out together at any tournaments or anything, if that's what you mean," Joey said.

Mai shook her head. "Jacques duels in Europe mostly and Raul duels in South America."

"I've seen Raul with Renata Reis. They're dating, I think. But never with Jacques," Duke said.

They ate silently for a moment, and then Duke said thoughtfully, "I just thought of something. You know who we haven't seen all day?"

"Who's that?" Joey asked.

"Bug Brain and Dino Boy," Duke replied.

Yugi raised an eyebrow. "Rex and Weevil? They haven't been watching the duels?"

"You know, I don't think I've seen them around either," Téa put in.

"You say that like it's a _bad _thing," Mai said dryly.

"No kidding," Serenity agreed.

Duke replied, "Well, I think it's a little odd that they weren't around all morning. I'm wondering if maybe one of us shouldn't do a little snooping around and see what they're up to."

"I think that's smart," Joey said. "I'm still not convinced one or both of them didn't have something to do with blowing up the ship. Or maybe even Mokuba and Téa's 'accident.'"

Yugi nodded. "Duke, do you want to see if you can find out where they got off to?"

"I don't mind poking around, but I do wanna see Becky's duel," Duke said. "She's next after Mai, right?"

"Yeah. They've been running about an hour to an hour and a half apart. Maybe take an hour and see if you can find Rex and Weevil and then come back?" Yugi suggested.

"Sounds like a plan."

When lunch was over, all of them except for Duke headed back for the beach along with the other passengers to watch Mai's duel. Pegasus, who seemed to disappear unless there was a duel going on, was once again seated on a rock overlooking the area of beach where they were dueling.

Mai was dueling against Renée Carole, another young American duelist. Renée favored Amazoness monsters and was a more cunning than aggressive duelist. Mai also had a lot of Amazoness monsters and her Harpies would be tough to beat, however. Joey and the others stood at the edge of the field on Mai's side to cheer her on.

"You get 'em, Mai!" Joey shouted as the two duelists took their places after the referee had them shuffle each other's decks. He realized then that this would be the first time he'd seen her duel since she'd beaten him in that Orichalcos battle in San Francisco. He was anxious to see how her style had changed over the past three years.

It started out fairly tame. Renée played conservatively, and Joey got the feeling she was trying to bait Mai into attacking. Mai, not one to shy away from a challenge, took the bait and found her Cyber Harpie caught in Spellbinding Circle. Still, it wasn't long until she had another Harpie on the field, then multiplied her into Harpie Sisters using Elegant Egotist.

At that point, Joey started noticing a change. Mai's dueling banter, which had started out sharp and feisty, started to become more and more calculating and cruel. Considering that her opponent was a girl barely into her teens, Joey couldn't help but think this a bit overkill. Her attacks were also brutal, with the holographic monsters once again delivering more punishment than normal. But most troublesome was something in her eyes. It didn't seem like the Mai he'd spent time with over the past couple of days, or even the Mai he knew from Battle City and Duelist Kingdom. It reminded him of how she'd played in California when she'd been working for Dartz.

"What is her _problem?_" Tristan asked when Mai played Harpie Lady Sparrow Formation which allowed her Harpies to join together to repel an attack from Renée's Unfriendly Amazon and destroy it, then followed up by calling Renée a pathetic schoolgirl who should stick to playground games.

"That's not Mai," Joey said, gritting his teeth.

"That's what you said when she played the Seal of Orichalcos, too," Tristan pointed out.

"This is totally different," Joey retorted. "We hadn't seen her for a year before that. We were talking to her _two seconds _before this duel and she wasn't acting like that." He looked at Yugi, whose expression was dark. "Yuge, are you getting that same feeling you got before?"

"Hm," Yugi replied, nodding.

"Is this a Shadow Game?" he asked, fear gripping his heart.

"I don't know."

Joey looked back at the duel. "Mai, come on, you're better than this!" he called out. "Just play a good match!"

Mai ignored him and drew a card. With a malicious smile, she played it: Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation. Since she had three monsters on the field, it allowed her to destroy up to three monsters on Renée's side of the field and then deduct their combined attack points from Renée's Life Points. Renée then activated her Dust Tornado trap to destroy Phoenix Formation, but Mai countered with a Curse of Royal trap, which negated and destroyed Dust Tornado. Renée had Amazon Archer and Amazoness Paladin on the field for a combined total of thirty-two hundred attack points, which were deducted from her Life Points, bringing her to zero and ending the duel. Renée, exhausted by the holographic effects of the loss to her Life Points, dropped to her knees, which provoked a gleeful laugh from Mai.

"Stupid useless brat," she spat.

Joey had heard enough. As soon as the referee called the duel, he was on the field, putting himself between Mai and Renée. "Mai, stop! What's gotten into you?"

She glared at him, her eyes as cold and hard as they'd been during that Orichalcos duel, before she'd turned things around. With a snarl, she threw out her left arm, her duel disk and elbow connecting with his chest and knocking the wind out of him. With an _oof_ of pain, he crumpled onto the sand.

**

* * *

**

Mai felt as if a fog had lifted the second she saw Joey crumple to the ground_. "Joey!"_ she cried out in horror. It was like the Orichalcos duel all over again. She sunk to her knees beside him, panic-stricken. "Oh my God, Joey, what have I _done?"_

"I'm…okay," he gasped, holing up his hand, trying to reassure her, but he was still doubled over, clutching his gut.

In an instant, Tristan, Yugi, and Serenity were surrounding them. "What do you think you're _doing?"_ Tristan roared, grabbing her arm and yanking her to her feet.

"I…"

"Tristan… don't…" Joey tried, getting to his feet and leaning heavily on Serenity, but Mai could see he was still having trouble catching his breath. _What did I do oh my God what did I do?_

"Don't? Dude, she _flattened _you with her _duel disk!"_

"Tristan, I don't know why I did that, I swear." She looked at Joey. "Joey, I _swear _I didn't mean to hurt you."

Joey, still leaning on Serenity, met her eyes and put his hand out to stop her. "I know."

By this time, Nelson made his way through them to Joey and Mai. "What just happened here, Miss Valentine?" he said, furious. Clearly he was getting tired of all the brawls between duelists.

Joey answered before she could open her mouth. "It was an accident. She turned and I ran into her duel disk."

"An accident?" he repeated skeptically.

"That's right," Serenity chimed in. "Joey ran right into her."

Mai gaped at Serenity. _Why is she protecting me after what I did to her brother?_

"Fine," the ref replied after a moment. "But let me tell you people, I'm getting sick of the nasty behavior during these duels. We'd better have some clean matches from this point on." Then he announced louder for the group at large, "The duel goes to Mai Valentine! In fifteen minutes, we will begin the Yellow Division Final with duelists Rebecca Hawkins and Kenan Bagatui!"

He walked away and Tristan opened his mouth to say something, but Joey turned to face him, cutting him off. "Something is _wrong _here, Tristan, don't you get it?"

"Joey is right," Yugi said, his voice dark and low. He turned to Mai and asked her gently, "What happened, Mai?"

"I don't know. I just was so _angry, _I couldn't control myself I don't even know why I was angry… oh that poor girl!" she moaned as she vaguely remembered saying some horrible things to her opponent.

"You were being controlled?" Yugi asked.

"No, not quite. It wasn't like when Marik had Joey duel you in Battle City, if that's what you're thinking. I just _hated _her, wanted to _crush _her. Why would I feel that way about a nice kid like that? I don't even know her!"

"Yuge, what the _heck _is going on?" Joey asked. "That girl doesn't look like someone who'd be messing with Shadow Games," he added, indicating Mai's opponent who was walking off the field with her friend Christine Aileas.

"It isn't _them,_" Yugi said, talking more to himself than to the others as if he'd just had an epiphany. "It isn't Jacques and Raul that made those duels feel wrong. They were just doing what they always do. It's _us. _Mokuba and Kaiba and Mai._ We're_ the ones bringing back the Shadow Games!"

Mai felt a new rage wash over her, not fuzzy and universal like when she was dueling, but clear and focused. "Pegasus," she seethed.

Looking up, she saw him still sitting on the same rock where he'd watched all the duels. He was watching them with a sort of benign look of interest on his face. Breaking free from the others, she marched up to where he sat. "Pegasus, you little weasel! What exactly is going on here? You _knew _this would happen, didn't you? Is this why you continued the tournament?"

"Why Mai Sweet Valentine, whatever do you mean?" Pegasus sang with a smile.

Yugi appeared beside Mai with Joey and the others behind him. "Pegasus, we have to stop this tournament!" he demanded.

This produced a round of protests from some of the people behind them. Goradon flew to their side. "Oh no, no, no, Mr. Mutou, you can't be serious! Why would you want to stop the tournament? It's just some friendly competition!"

"_Friendly?"_

Jacques Rousseau emerged from behind them, swearing loudly in French. "Stop the tournament? This is madness! If Yugi Mutou is a coward and cannot handle a little spirited competition, he is welcome to withdraw, but I see no reason to stop the tournament!"

Yugi ignored Jacques and Goradon both. "Pegasus, you know that what is going on here is more than 'spirited competition.' This has to stop before it goes any further!"

"I'm afraid I don't have the authority, Yugi-boy. It's up to the IDMTC."

"You're the chairman of the board!"

"But _I'm _the president," Mr. Goradon said. _"I _decide if this tournament continues."

"Oh please, this is ridiculous!" Jacques spat. By this time, the other finalists were also gathering close.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with the little French weasel," Kaiba interjected from behind Mai where he stood with Mokuba and Rebecca.

"Kaiba! You know full well what is going on here," Yugi growled.

"What I know is that we're duelists and this is a World Championship. Anyone who can't take a little rough play doesn't deserve to be here."

"Would you stop thinking about your ego for two seconds and take a look around you? This is not about you and your precious Championship Title," Yugi said angrily. "Someone is _using _us through these duels. Mokuba's duel and your duel and Mai's duel, there was something _wrong. _We can't keep opening ourselves up to it! And the monsters, haven't you noticed how they're more _real?_"

"Oh, not this again!" Kaiba scoffed.

"Would you quit going all Scully on us and wake up?" Joey shot back. Serenity was at his side, nodding in agreement.

"Seto, he's right," Mokuba joined in. "Something wasn't right with my duel."

"You have no say in this, you are no longer in the competition," Jacques sneered.

"Let's get one thing straight, Rousseau," Kaiba seethed, shaking a finger at Jacques. "I might agree with you about continuing the tournament, but you don't get to talk to my brother. _Ever. _You so much as look at him cross-eyed and I will _take you down."_

"Oh please, your empty threats mean nothing to me!" Jacques retorted.

"Stop it, this is getting us nowhere!" Yugi cut in. He turned back to Pegasus. "We have to do what is _right, _Pegasus. We have to stop this."

"I'm afraid it's too late to stop, Yugi-boy," Pegasus said, and Mai felt the fury wash over her once more.

"You filthy… what have you done?" she raged at him. "Is this why you brought us here?"

"I assure you, Mai Sweet Valentine, that this was most definitely not my intention as I believe I've made clear numerous times. I certainly did not expect _this, _but if Yugi-boy is right and you are being used, then it is already too late. You know the old saying about closing the barn door after the cow got out, I presume? The only way out is _through."_

"That's insane, Pegasus!" Yugi protested. "We're not only putting ourselves at risk but everyone on this island!"

"Mr. Mutou, please," Goradon tried to placate Yugi, "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about, but as I've already said, while Mr. Pegasus is the host, the Tournament Commission is in charge of implementing the tournament and it therefore falls to me to make these sorts of decisions."

"Then postpone it! We're shipwrecked and have more pressing survival concerns than who wins what division," Yugi argued, changing tracks with impressive speed.

"What is this nonsense? Are we here to duel or are we not?" Jacques asked.

"We're _here _because our ship _sunk, _you moron!" Joey jeered, "Or did you think this is the cruise line's idea of a shore excursion?"

Zigfried von Schroeder offered, "We have already decided that while we're stuck here, we might as well finish the tournament. I agree with Herr Rousseau and Herr Kaiba. This is stupid. Why stop now?"

"Because look at what's been happening in all these duels! People aren't acting normal! The attacks are affecting the duelists more than they should!" Joey insisted.

Zigfried shrugged imperiously. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. I have seen nothing but aggressive dueling and one stupid boy walk onto a field and into a player's duel disk."

Mai resisted an urge to fling her duel disk at _him _as Joey shouted, "You better shut your mouth, von Schroeder or I'll shut it for you!"

"Please, Joseph, let's not lose our tempers," Pegasus cooed.

Joey glared, but Yugi cut him off, addressing Goradon. "I can't let this tournament continue!"

"_You _can't?" Kaiba asked. "Now whose ego is the problem?"

"Kaiba, this isn't about me! I'm _responsible _for a thirteen-year-old girl who is supposed to compete next! I can't let her just walk into a Shadow Game! And you said yourself just yesterday that you didn't want to be involved in this duel under false pretenses."

"I always finish what I start."

Yugi glowered at Kaiba, then turned back to Goradon. "Mr. Goradon, if you insist on continuing this tournament before we're rescued and safely back in San Francisco, then I am going to have to withdraw."

This shut everyone up except Kaiba, who screamed, "You _coward! _You can't _withdraw!"_

But his threat had the desired effect on the right person, Mai noted. Goradon looked completely flustered.

"Mr. Mutou," he purred placating, "please, you don't want to withdraw. We're just trying to pass the time while we wait for rescue. Tournaments are always a little… spirited. Please reconsider."

Yugi just eyed him levelly, arms crossed.

Goradon tried a few more times to convince Yugi to change his mind, but when Yugi wouldn't budge, Goradon did something Mai completely didn't expect.

He called Yugi's bluff.

"Then the tournament will continue without you. I do hope you reconsider before your next duel," Goradon said icily. He looked around at the group gathered. "The next duel will be in ten minutes. If any competitor chooses not to compete, the IDMTC will be forced to consider it a forfeit," he said flatly, then walked away. Jacques, Zigfried, and other duelists drifted away, satisfied that the tournament would continue with or without Yugi's participation.

"Yugi," Pegasus said, his voice low and foppish mannerisms gone. He was down from his rock and he pulled Yugi close to him. Mai, Kaiba, Joey, and the other "Shadow Duelists" moved in to listen as well. "You can't quit."

"I can't compete under these circumstances," Yugi argued.

"Don't you understand what's at stake here?"

"Of course I do, that's why I want it _stopped."_

Pegasus shook his head, his mane of white hair floating elegantly around his face. "It's too _late _to stop and if you back out you will no longer be in a position to fight it."

"Neither will I be in a position to fight it if something is taking over my mind and I'm bent on crushing people! Did you see what happened to Mai? To Kaiba? To Mokuba? How are we supposed to fight the Shadow Realm if we're a _part _of it?"

"That you can figure out, but if you don't continue with the tournament, you won't be able to fight at all." Pegasus sighed and put a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "Yugi, I understand your concerns. I didn't expect this to happen. But backing out now will only make things worse."

"Don't be a coward, Yugi," Kaiba barked.

Yugi rounded on him. "After everything you've seen, Kaiba, everything that has happened to you and to Mokuba, how can you continue to deny what is _right in front of you?"_

"Are you deaf or just incredibly stupid?" Kaiba scoffed. "I've already told you, believing in Shadows doesn't mean I have to jump at them."

"So it doesn't matter to you that we're putting people in danger? Your _own brother _has already been affected by this, and it doesn't matter?"

"My brother is no longer in the tournament," Kaiba pointed out.

"Seto, what is the _matter _with you?" Mokuba jumped in, clearly almost as angry as Yugi was. "I may not be in the tournament, but Rebecca is. And Yugi, and Joey, and Mai. Our _friends, _Seto—no wait, make that _my _friends. You're so _above _having friends!"

"Mokuba!" Kaiba barked. "Let me handle this!"

"No, Seto. I'm not a ten-year-old kid anymore. I have my own opinions and I think you're acting like a jerk"

Kaiba's jaw was clenched so tight Yugi half expected it to crack in two. "If you—all of you—" he added, including Mai and all of Yugi's friends, "would put aside your self-righteous indignation for two seconds and think, you might recall that I was the one who didn't want any part of this in the first place. But we—all of us—went ahead with this tournament. What's done is done. If we have opened some kind of Shadow Game—and I'm not saying we have—then what would be the point of stopping now? As much as it pains me to ever agree with Pegasus about anything, he's right. Walking away from the fight now serves no useful purpose."

"You think protecting Rebecca from a Shadow Game isn't a useful purpose?" Mokuba argued.

"You know, _Rebecca _is standing right here and _Rebecca _can speak for herself," the child prodigy interjected, her arms crossed as she eyed all of them like a mother about to lay the law down on her wayward children. "And so help me, if one of you even _thinks _about reminding me I'm only thirteen, I will personally take thirteen years off your own life. I'm not afraid to duel."

Mai grinned, impressed by the little munchkin, while Yugi looked at her in surprise. "It's been bothering you since we got here. How can you want to duel?"

"I didn't say I _want_ to duel, I said I'm not _afraid_ to duel."

"Rebecca—"

"No, listen. You said it just now. I've been creeped out by this place since we got here, before the dueling started. I think you're right about something being really wrong with the duels, but something was really wrong before that, and _not _dueling isn't going to solve anything. At least if we keep going, we're working _toward _something, toward fighting it instead of waiting to see what happens."

"But the more the duels happen, the worse it gets for you. I can _tell_ how much these duels are affecting you. Like—"

"Like Egypt," she agreed softly. "That's why I want it to _stop._"

"Dueling won't make it stop, it will make it worse!"

She seemed to contemplate this for a moment, her eyes somber. "Maybe. But it seems like something we have to do. Doesn't it?"

Mai watched the internal struggle play out his face before he exhaled in frustration. "Rebecca, I promised your grandfather I'd watch out for you. But I can't decide for you whether or not you should duel." He turned to Joey and Mai as well. "What do you two think? We're in this tournament together."

"You're the brains of this operation, pal. If you're out, I'm out. If you're in, I'm in," Joey said resolutely. Serenity, still at his side, looked worried, but patted his shoulder supportively.

"Mai?"

"It could've been worse," she shrugged. "At least we seem to go back to normal when the duel's over."

Mai saw Yugi's eyes meet each of his friends' in turn, duelists and non-duelists alike. Last they rested on Téa. She looked worried, but gave a small nod of support.

"Well, Yugi-boy?" Pegasus purred, already knowing he'd won.

"Fine," Yugi spat. "I'll stay in the tournament."

"Well then, it looks like we continue," Pegasus chirped. "Oh, Yugi-boy, don't look at me like that. It really is in everyone's best interest to continue."

Yugi gritted his teeth, then turned and stalked off after Goradon to inform him that he would remain in the tournament after all. Mai started walking away, then felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You okay?" Joey asked her, his voice thick with worry.

She raised her eyebrows. "Am _I _okay? Joey, I am _so _sorry…"

He shook his head and put his finger to her lips, giving her an unexpected jolt. "Shh. I told you, I'm fine." He gripped her shoulders with both hands. "But I'm really worried about you. I…" He looked down as if it were suddenly too hard to look into her eyes. "I can't stand to watch you duel in another Shadow Game, not after what happened to you the last time."

Mai swallowed as images from her nightmares, now four nights straight, flashed through her mind. But Joey's concern for her melted through them. Just a little. Screwing on her best cocky smile, she lifted his chin so he was looking at her again, she said, "Hey, who do you think you're talking to? Nobody gets the best of Mai Valentine. We'll show 'em."

He gave her a tight smile. "You bet. And you won't be alone this time," he vowed, his eyes boring into her and giving her another jolt. "I promise you that."

She nodded, unable to find any words to respond.

After what seemed like a long moment, he broke eye contact with her and let go of her shoulders. "Let's find a good place to watch Rebecca's duel."

"I'll be right with you," she said. "There's something I have to do first."

Looking around, she spotted Renée Carole. "Hey Renée," she called out, trotting over to where the girl was standing down the beach with Christine Aileas. She cringed when Renée gave her a cold look and backed away.

"No listen, I want to apologize," she said, holding up her hands in surrender. _I seem to be doing that a lot lately, _she thought with an inward sigh. But hey, it beat blaming other people for her screw-ups. "I don't know why I acted that way, but you didn't deserve that. You're a good duelist and you did a great job out there."

She shrugged noncommittally. "I understand how it is. Adversaries on the field."

It was as close to an acceptance of her apology as she would get. Mai nodded, then turned to go find Joey. Instead, she found herself facing Serenity.

"Oh! Serenity!" she cried, shame coloring her cheeks. It was one thing to have Serenity hear the stories of the Orichalcos duels; it was quite another to know she had personally witnessed Mai attacking her brother.

"Mai, I need to talk to you for a second," Serenity said abruptly.

"Okay," Mai said uncertainly. She followed Serenity even further down the beach, away from the group waiting for the next duel.

"I want you to know something," Serenity began. "I know I don't fully understand everything that happened between you and Joey when you were in California three years ago, but I've seen and experienced enough weird stuff since I've met all of Joey's friends to know that things aren't always what they seem. There are a couple of things I _do_ know, though. I know you really care about my brother and that you won't hurt him again, not like that anyway, and I know that you are a really strong person. No matter what happens to you, you always come back fighting and you do the right thing in the end, no matter how hard that is. I want you to know I really admire you for that."

"Serenity—"

"When I first met you, I thought you were the coolest person I'd ever met. You were this great duelist, competing with all the guys. You talked cool, you dressed cool, you knew how to handle the attention from guys who just saw you as some kind of prize. You refused to be that, and I've always wanted to be like you.

"But you know, I was fourteen, and I don't think I really got what _really _makes someone cool, and it wasn't any of that. It's about being your own person, and you are that. No one can control you, Mai, _ever. _Not even in a Shadow Game."

Mai looked down. "I wish that were true, Serenity," she said softly.

"It _is _true. Whatever happens, whatever power is working here, making everyone act crazy, it's only temporary. It won't control you because you will keep fighting and keep choosing the right path, even if it takes a while to find it."

"You give me too much credit."

"No, I don't. You could have given up after whatever happened in California. Maybe you wanted to and that's why we didn't hear from you for so long. But you're _here _and I can't even begin to imagine how hard that must have been just to come here, but you did. That's how I know you and Joey and all the others will beat whoever is messing with us. Just keep _fighting."_


	8. Dueling in the Shadows

**8. Dueling in the Shadows**

Telling Goradon that he was going to remain in the tournament after all did not exactly help improve Yugi's mood. The tournament commission president was so smug at having won their battle of wills that Yugi found himself momentarily wishing he had Joey's temperament and could just haul off and slug the guy in the face, but he swallowed his anger and went back to where Rebecca was standing with Téa, Tristan, Mokuba and Kaiba awaiting the beginning of her duel.

"You sure you wanna go through with this?" he asked her.

"You said it was my decision," she replied.

"Of course it is," he told her.

"Then let's stop talking about it and let me get my deck ready," she said simply.

"Good," Kaiba sniffed disdainfully. "I was bored with this conversation before it even started."

"Kaiba, just don't forget this is bigger than a Duel Monsters title and it's bigger than you getting revenge on Jacques for the way he dueled Mokuba. Whatever happens, we are all targets and we will all have to fight this together as a team," Yugi told him.

Kaiba merely rolled his eyes. "Yes, the old teamwork refrain. Save it, Yugi. I've heard it all before."

"And it's always been true," Yugi replied evenly.

Kaiba snorted then walked off to find a spot where he could watch the duel. Yugi turned to Téa and Tristan. "Go pick a spot on this side of the field. I want to stay with Rebecca until the duel starts."

Tristan nodded and turned to go, but Téa looked like she wanted to say something more.

"Téa?"

She shook her head as if shaking a thought away. "Just be careful, okay?" She turned to Rebecca. "All of you. These duels really have me worried."

"I'll be okay," Rebecca said, and Téa smiled.

"Then kick some butt out there, okay?"

"You got it," Rebecca replied, looking surprised and a little pleased that Téa would include her in her concern.

Téa turned from Rebecca and gave Yugi another look he couldn't quite interpret before leaving to find Tristan.

Yugi turned back to Rebecca as Mokuba stepped up to her. "Hey, Rebecca, I didn't mean to talk down to you or anything. It's just that Seto really bugs me sometimes. I know you'll be fine."

"Mokuba?" she asked. "What was it like… when you dueled?"

He shuffled his feet a bit and shrugged. "I don't know. I just got really angry and wanted to do anything I could to win, to have more power. I wanted to kill Jacques when he sicced that Tyrant Dragon on me. It was a lot tougher than usual, too. But after the duel it just kind of went away. You'll be okay," he reassured her.

Yugi was about to add his own encouragement when Duke made his way down the beach to join them.

"Hey Yugi, Becks, Mokuba," Duke greeted.

"Any luck finding Rex and Weevil?" Yugi asked him.

"Not a sign of them. After Becky's duel, I'm gonna go look again and if I still don't find them, I think we need to get together a search party or something."

"Yeah, they could be _in_ trouble rather than _causing_ trouble."

"How'd Mai's duel go?" Duke asked. When Yugi and Rebecca just exchanged dark looks, he asked "What? She didn't lose, did she?"

"No, she won, but something was making her act strange. She was very cruel and didn't seem to come out of it until the duel ended," Yugi summarized.

"She knocked the wind out of Joey with her duel disk then kind of woke up," Rebecca added.

"No _way!"_ Duke cried.

"I'm pretty sure that somehow we're the ones being used in some kind of Shadow Game. That's why Mokuba and Kaiba acted so violent in their duels, too, I think. I just don't know who's doing it," Yugi said through gritted teeth.

"Not Jacques and Raul?"

"Maybe," Yugi said, but somehow he didn't feel like the problem. "Mai's opponent didn't seem to be affected or involved at all, so I don't think it has anything to do with our opponents. Someone somewhere else is doing this."

Duke narrowed his eyes. "I'm thinking I'd really better find Rex and Weevil then. But what about the tournament?"

"Goradon won't stop the tournament and most of the other competitors want to continue, so unless we just drop out, we continue dueling and see what happens."

Duke whistled. "Man." He turned to Rebecca. "You okay with this, Becky? You sure you wanna do this?"

Rebecca groaned and put her hands on her hips. "Would you all stop treating me like a little kid? I _am _a college graduate!"

Duke, having missed the previous discussion, was a little taken aback. "I don't think you're a little kid, Becks."

This surprised her. "You don't?"

"Are you kidding? You're like the toughest chick I know. Remember in California when we ran into that Valon jerk from the Orichalcos gang? You weren't afraid to fight him to stick up for your friends even though he could've played the Seal of Orichalcos on you."

"Good thing he didn't," Rebecca remembered ruefully, "since he beat us so miserably."

Duke waved it off as if he thought it a mere technicality. "He got lucky. You've been dueling circles around punks like him since you were in kindergarten. You probably woulda creamed him if I hadn't jumped in and gotten in your way."

She smiled, pleased at the compliment. "I thought we made a good team."

"Well this time I'll be backing you up from the sidelines," he assured her. "You are _Rebecca Hawkins._ Go kick some butt."

Duke's encouragement seemed to wipe away the last vestiges of disquiet she'd had from Mai's and Kaiba's duels. "Thanks," she said, giving him a hug. "Thanks to _all _of you," she added, grabbing Mokuba and Yugi simultaneously and hugging them as well. "You guys are really great friends."

"The Rebecca Hawkins cheerleading squad, that's us," Mokuba said, blushing a little. "We'll be right up front cheering you on, okay?"

Yugi saw Croquet walk out into the center of the circle of beach they were using for their field. "Speaking of, it looks like it's about to start." He looked around and spotted Téa and Tristan standing with Joey, Mai, and Serenity at the edge of the of the field area. "There's the rest of the gang." He gave Rebecca one more hug. "Good luck."

"I don't need it," she said, winking at Duke. "I'm _Rebecca Hawkins."_

"God help us all," Yugi groaned playfully, rolling his eyes.

**

* * *

**

"She okay?" Téa asked as Yugi joined her and the others as the referee announced the beginning of the Yellow Division Championship duel and introduced Rebecca and her opponent, Kenan Bagatui from Kenya.

"Yeah, she'll do great," Yugi replied, but Téa could not mistake the worry in his voice or his eyes.

"Are _you _okay?" she followed up.

He looked at her and sighed. "I'm supposed to watch out for her, but I can't help her now."

Téa took his hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "You're a good friend to her. That's all the help she needs."

"Thanks," he said, smiling, and Téa felt a little guilty for all the times she'd been jealous and spiteful toward Rebecca.

The duel began and Yugi's attention was immediately focused solely on Rebecca. Kenan was a sharp but quiet duelist who specialized in Earth monsters. Early on he played the Field Spell card Gaia Power, which gave all Earth monsters a five hundred-point increase in attack points. The disadvantage, however, was that it also decreased Earth monsters' defense points by four hundred, and Rebecca quickly turned things around so that Kenan was on the defensive.

As with all the other duels, this one seemed normal enough at the beginning. Rebecca had always been a somewhat caustic player, either playing the bratty child to lull opponents into underestimating her as she had in the first round against that pompous Russian, or intimidating them with her smug superiority in her own intellect. The first time Téa had ever seen Rebecca duel, she'd even been contemptuous of her own cards, sacrificing weaker monsters with an air of scorn in order to power up her favorites. She'd only seen Rebecca duel a few times since then, mostly at the Kaiba Corp Grand Championship a few years earlier and then in the earlier rounds of this tournament, but it was clear that she'd grown as a duelist and had developed what Yugi liked to call "trust in the heart of the cards."

As this duel progressed, however, like with Mai and Kaiba and Mokuba, Rebecca slipped into a more brutal style, with no regard for her opponent or either of their monsters. Duke both started pacing anxiously, shouting out encouragement to her, while Yugi brooded in stock-still silence.

"Come on Becky, you can control it!" Duke shouted.

Rebecca ignored him and sacrificed two monsters to summon Guardian Angel Joan, which not only had a twenty-eight hundred-point attack, but would increase her own Life Points by the amount of the attack points of any monster it destroyed. However, Kenan had Big Tusk Mammoth on his side of the field and its effect prevented Rebecca from attacking with any monster on the same turn it was summoned, so she ended her turn.

Kenan played Swords of Revealing Light to prevent Rebecca from attacking for her next three turns. She growled furiously, an almost animal sound, and Téa saw Yugi clench his jaw.

"It's almost over," she told him, putting her hand on his shoulder, but he didn't answer her.

For the next three turns, Rebecca bided her time, but she grew more and more hostile. Kenan, meanwhile, was able to chip away at her Life Points by repeatedly summoning Inaba White Rabbit, which could attack her Life Points directly, bypassing her Guardian Angel Joan, and then would return to his hand at the end of his turn, meaning even when she was free from Swords of Revealing Light, she wouldn't be able to destroy it. By the time her three turns were over, she was down to two hundred Life Points and had taken some physical punishment for all the direct attacks. She looked a little battered, but fiercer than ever. Kenan had switched Big Tusk Mammoth to defense position, but Rebecca played Stop Defense, forcing it into attack mode, and Guardian Angel Joan destroyed it, costing Kenan three hundred Life Points and bringing him down to twelve hundred, while also adding two thousand Life Points to Rebecca's score by Guardian Angel Joan's special ability. He then set a monster card in facedown defense position and played Ultimate Offering, which at the cost of five hundred Life Points allowed him an extra summons. He used it to bring back Inaba White Rabbit to attack her Life Points again, bringing her back down to one thousand to his seven hundred. Inaba returned to his hand once more.

Rebecca countered on her turn by playing Book of Taiyou, which flipped the facedown monster into attack position. The monster was Poison Mummy, whose special effect inflicted five hundred points of direct damage to her Life Points. Rebecca flew into a rage at this, which Téa knew was a drastic overreaction: she still had five hundred Life Points and as soon as her Guardian Angel Joan attacked Poison Mummy, Kenan would lose and she would still get an additional thousand point bonus from Joan's special effect. And yet, Rebecca was livid, practically spitting invectives at Kenan as if he'd just cost her the duel.

"Just end it, Rebecca, so you can come back," Yugi uttered under his breath.

Téa's heart twisted in her chest. _Poor Rebecca. This duel is going to kill her if she doesn't end it soon._

Duke didn't waste time muttering to himself. "Who cares, Becky, just attack Poison Mummy and finish the duel!" he shouted.

Finally she called the attack. Kenan was thrown backwards as his Life Points hit zero and Rebecca's went back up to fifteen hundred. The referee declared Rebecca the winner and before the words were even out of his mouth, Yugi and Duke were both on the field. Yugi reached Rebecca first and took her by the shoulders.

"Rebecca? It's over! Are you okay? Rebecca!"

She shook her head as if trying to shake off cobwebs. Her eyes unfocussed for a moment, and then she looked at Yugi and at Duke who was right behind him.

"Yugi!" she cried, throwing herself into his arms, sobbing. He held her tightly as Duke put an arm around her shoulder. Téa couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was clear Yugi and Duke were trying to soothe her. Mokuba was there, too, but he hung back, unsure how to help.

Kenan Bagatui trotted across the field, a look of concern etched on his face. "I don't understand. She won the duel. What is wrong? Is she hurt?"

"It's like I tried explaining, something is controlling the emotions of some of the players during these duels," Yugi answered, still holding Rebecca. "She doesn't normally play that way." Téa saw Yugi look over his shoulder and give Pegasus an icy glare. Pegasus did not avert his gaze and stared stonily back.

Kenan shook his head. "I don't understand," he repeated, "but I am sorry." To Rebecca he said, "Do not cry. It was a good duel. You played well and were victorious."

Rebecca pulled back and wiped her face with her sleeve. "Thanks. I… I am sorry. I really don't play like that."

Kenan smiled and held out his hand to shake, which she took. "No harm done."

Yugi looked at him gratefully. "Thank you."

Kenan merely shrugged then walked away.

"Come on, Rebecca, let's get you something to drink," Duke said. She nodded and then saw Mokuba and gave him a tight hug as well. The three of them then headed off toward the campfire and the water jugs that were set up nearby, all three men surrounding Rebecca protectively.

"This is _nuts,"_ Joey growled, grinding his teeth. "We can't keep doing this!"

Téa looked at him, apprehensive. "You're next, aren't you?"

He looked back at her, his lips squeezed into a thin line. "Yeah, I guess I am."

**

* * *

**

Mai wasn't sure which was worse, experiencing the anger and loss of control that allowed her to hurt other people, or watching someone she cared about preparing to go through it.

"You're looking a little green around the gills there, hon," she told him, trying to keep her voice light and casual. "You sure you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, can't wait," Joey replied with as much enthusiasm as a seasick sailor headed for the galley.

"You can do it, bro," Tristan encouraged. "You don't have to let it beat you."

"That's right, you can do it, Joey," Serenity put in, squeezing her brother's arm.

"And you'll feel better once it's over," Mai added.

"Well that's comforting," Joey snapped. "Like banging my head against the wall… it feels good when you stop."

"Listen, you pinhead, I'm trying to _help," _Mai said testily. "I've been feeling creepy since the duels started, but after going through it, I actually feel better."

As if to offer confirmation, Yugi, Duke, Rebecca, and Mokuba returned and Rebecca, too, looked much better, with some of the color returned to her face.

"Hey kiddo, you did great, really," Mai told her bracingly. "You feeling better now?"

She nodded. "It was so weird, like everything was fogged over and I was just so _angry._ But I do feel better now. That creepiness that I've been feeling since we got here isn't so bad."

Yugi looked at her thoughtfully. "Do you think maybe Pegasus and Kaiba were right after all? Could this just be part of the test and the only way out is through?"

"I sure hope so," Mai replied. "I'd like to be done with that, thank you very much."

"Hello, some of us are still getting ready to duel here!" Joey griped, clearly nervous.

"Hey, settle down!" Tristan warned.

Yugi put his hand on Joey's shoulder. "You're a great duelist and a strong person, Joey. It's going to be fine," he said tranquilly.

This seemed to help, and Joey took a deep breath to calm himself. "You're right. I've got all my friends behind me, how can I miss?"

"That's right, the cheerleading squad of yours never fails, right?" Mai agreed, although inside she was as nervous as he was.

Duke wished Joey luck, then left to see if he could find out where Rex and Weevil had gotten off to. The rest of them stood around Joey, trying to keep him distracted so he wouldn't get nervous again. Soon it was time to begin and Nelson called Joey and Mako Tsunami to the field. They met in the middle and exchanged decks. While Joey shuffled Mako's deck, he looked at the odd fisherman duelist.

"Hey Mako. Whatever happens out there, I really respect you as a duelist. If I… I don't know, if I start acting weird or whatever, it's nothing personal, okay?"

Mako eyed him curiously. "What exactly is going on here, Joey? What is making everyone act so strange?"

Joey just shrugged. "I wish I knew. But anyway," he finished, handing Mako back his deck and taking his own from him, "I just want you to know that I think you're a good guy and a good duelist and I'm sorry in advance for anything I might do out there."

Mai shuddered as the duel began. It didn't take long for her to see the change in Joey. A hardness came to his eyes, something she'd never seen there before. She'd seen him fierce and determined, she'd seen him angry in a temper-tantrum sort of way, but never so cold and dead, except for the time he'd been controlled by Marik while dueling against Yugi. The longer the duel wore on, the colder his eyes got.

_Come on Joey, fight it, fight it…_

Joey sacrificed Rocket Warrior and Gearfried the Iron Knight to summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon with twenty-four hundred attack points. Mako's only monster at the moment was Sea Serpent, which Joey had trapped in Spellbinding Circle, but he also had Legendary Ocean on the field, which increased the attack and defense of all Water monsters by two hundred and downgraded them all one level, which meant some monsters that normally required a tribute no longer did. Red-Eyes destroyed Sea Serpent and Mako lost four hundred Life Points, bringing him to twelve hundred. Mako countered by summoning Giga Gagagigo without a tribute, thanks to his Legendary Ocean, and attacked Red-Eyes, but Joey activated his trap card Vow of Tribe, which did not allow Mako to attack that turn since he and Joey had the same number of monsters on the field. On his turn, Joey set two facedown cards and one facedown monster in defense and ended his turn.

Mako also set a facedown defense monster, and then attacked Red-Eyes with Giga Gagagigo. Joey activated the trap card Metalmorph.

"Awesome move, Joey!" Tristan shouted, and Mai agreed. Now maybe this duel could end soon…

Metalmorph gave Red-Eyes an additional three hundred attack and defense points, putting it fifty points over Giga Gagagigo and destroying it along with fifty of Mako's Life Points. Normally the loss of only fifty Life Points would barely be felt by a duelist, but once again the monsters seemed more powerful than usual and Mako was knocked back a step when Giga Gagagigo was destroyed. Also, Metalmorph was a continuous trap card that would stay equipped to Red-Eyes. When Joey used his Red-Eyes to attack one of Mako's monsters, not only would it get the extra three hundred attack points, but half again the amount of attack points of the monster it was attacking. This would make Red-Eyes nearly invincible.

It was Joey's turn again. He played another facedown card, and then attacked Mako's facedown monster with Red-Eyes. It was Jowls of Dark Demise, with only one hundred defense points, but the attack activated its effect, which allowed Mako to take control of one Joey's monsters _and _use it to attack Joey's Life Points directly.

"Oh no! Joey only has two thousand Life Points!" Mai groaned.

Crowing in triumph, Mako took control of Red-Eyes and attacked Joey's Life Points.

Joey roared in almost feral rage. "Nobody uses _my _Red-Eyes against me, do you understand me? You'll pay for that!"

With a wave of his hand, Joey activated Skull Dice. The cackling bat-like creature appeared on the field and rolled its giant red die. Red Eye's attack would be divided by whatever he rolled.

"Come on six!" Téa shouted.

Joey only got a two, but it was enough. Red Eye's attack was halved and Joey's Life Points went down to six hundred fifty.

It was Mako's turn again. He drew, and gave Joey a broad smile. "And now it's time to end this duel!" he cried triumphantly while Joey continued to stare at him, eyes cold and dead. Mako played Monster Reborn to bring Sea Serpent back from the grave. He then sacrificed it to summon Levia-Dragon-Daedalus.

"What's _that?"_ Tristan asked.

"I've heard of it," Yugi replied soberly. "If Mako sends Legendary Ocean to the Graveyard, every card on the field except Levia-Dragon-Daedalus will go to the Graveyard. Mako will then be able to attack Joey's Life Points directly—"

"And the duel is over," Tristan finished, then whistled.

"The right trap card can stop him, though," Yugi added.

And indeed, Joey did have a trap card to play and Mai gasped when he activated it. Last Turn. It was a very risky card for a desperate situation. Mako also gasped when he saw it.

"My Last Turn card will send every card on the field and in our hands to the Graveyard except my Red-Eyes. Then you get to summon one monster from your deck to the field. Your monster and Red-Eyes will battle, winner takes all. Whoever's monster is left standing wins the duel."

Mako and Joey both sent all of their cards, including Joey's Metalmorph, to the Graveyard, leaving only Red-Eyes with its original twenty-four hundred attack points. Mako then went through his deck to find a monster to summon.

"If he has something more powerful than Red-Eyes, Joey loses," Mai breathed.

With a sigh, Mako summoned Fairy King Truesdale, the most powerful card he had left in his deck. With only twenty-two hundred attack points, it was two hundred short. It attacked Red-Eyes and lost, leaving Red-Eyes alone on the field.

Mai sighed in relief. The duel was over. Joey would be back to normal now.

Her relief was premature, however. Before the referee cold call the duel, Joey growled, "And now, for using my Red-Eyes against me, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, attack—"

"Joey, no!" Yugi called out.

Mai's breath caught in her throat. It was Mokuba and Jacques all over again, and with the amped up power, Red-Eyes could do some real damage if it attacked Mako directly, and for no reason…

Tristan was on the field in an instant. He flew at Joey, tackling him and knocking him to the ground before he could finish calling out the attack.

"Joey, man, snap out of it!" Tristan shouted at his friend.

"Huh?" Joey replied, shaking his head, dazed. Recognizing that Joey was himself again, Tristan immediately let him go.

"The duel is over! Both duelists will turn off their duel disks immediately!" Nelson called for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

Joey and Mako both complied immediately. The ref glared at Joey, but then announced him the winner.

"Thanks, Tristan," Joey said earnestly, getting up. He looked across the field. "Mako—"

"It was a fine duel," Mako cut him off, walking toward him across the field. "You are victorious and I am none the worse for wear." He reached Joey and Tristan and held out his hand. Joey took it and shook with him, a grateful look on his face.

"Thanks, Mako. You dueled great. I… I don't know why I got so mad. Using Jowls of Dark Demise to take control of my Red-Eyes was brilliant."

Mako nodded, accepting the compliment and it was clear there were no hard feelings.

Joey and Tristan rejoined the rest of the gang at the edge of the field and Mai and Serenity both threw their arms around Joey. He hugged them both together, murmuring, "It's over."

"You made it through, kiddo," Mai agreed, "and with some gutsy moves, too."

When Mai and Serenity finally let him go, Yugi put a hand on his shoulder. "Great duel. Metalmorph and Last Turn were both really inspired."

"Thanks Yuge," Joey replied, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder in return. "Seven down, and one to go," he said, soberly.

"Yes," Yugi replied. "My turn."


	9. The Black Final

**9. The Black Final**

Yugi never got nervous before a duel. In the years that Téa had known him, she'd seen him nervous over a great many things: attention, public speaking, making new friends. In junior high he had barely been able to speak to any girl other than her. He'd definitely been nervous that night they'd first kissed. But never before a duel, no matter how high the stakes, no matter how strong the opponent, no matter whether it was a private duel with no one watching or a tournament played before large crowds, had she ever seen any signs of apprehension.

Dueling was like breathing to him and even knowing what most likely was coming, he was completely calm.

Good thing, too, because Téa was nervous enough for both of them.

"Please be careful," she told him for probably the hundredth time that day.

"I will."

"And _fast. _Just win it quick and end the duel."

"That's the plan."

"And—"

"Téa, stop!" He gave her an encouraging smile and put his hand on her arm. "I'm not thrilled with what these duels are doing to everyone, either, but it will be okay."

"I know. I can't help worrying, though."

While they were waiting for the duel to begin, Duke returned with some interesting news. Rex and Weevil had returned about halfway through Joey's duel, but instead of going to the beach to watch, they'd hung around the campfire.

"They just sat there," Duke told the rest of them. "It was kinda weird."

"What do you think they're up to?" Tristan asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know, but they didn't do anything except eat a little. Then a few minutes ago they came down here."

"I hate to ask, but will you keep an eye on them?" Yugi requested.

Duke nodded. "I plan on it. I don't know what they're up to, but I don't trust them."

Duke left and Kaiba, who was always interested in watching Yugi's duels closely, came over to join them. "You're not going to let this Shadow Realm nonsense throw off your game, are you, Yugi? I expect you to win this so I can face you in the finals."

Téa clenched her fists at Kaiba's skewed priorities and Yugi barked, "Don't worry, Kaiba. It'll take more than the Shadow Realm to throw me off my game."

Before long, it was time for his duel and Yugi took his place on the field opposite Alrik Cronhielm. _Last duel of the day, then it's over, _she told herself, shutting her mind off from the voice that tried to remind her that there would be the quarterfinals tomorrow, then the semi-finals after that, and the final after that….

As good as his word, Yugi started out the duel strong and aggressive, clearly anxious to win as quickly as possible. Alrik was good; very good, actually. He had a strong deck made up of dragon monsters and played aggressively. His very first move was to play Card Destruction, which forced both players to discard their entire hand and draw the same number of cards to form a new hand, thus forcing Yugi to immediately change strategies right off the top. But Alrik was playing Yugi Mutou, and no one could compete against Yugi Mutou, at least not in a tournament or a game where the outcome really mattered. She could count on the fingers of one hand the people who had actually ever beaten Yugi in an important duel.

Pegasus, but it was a timed duel and time had just merely run out, otherwise Yugi would've won, and besides, Pegasus had been cheating.

Kaiba, but he'd pulled a dirty trick by putting his own life in danger so Yugi had no choice but to refuse to attack.

Rebecca, but Yugi had surrendered when he should have won.

Joey, but that had been another life-or-death duel that Yugi lost on purpose to save Joey and then Joey had made sure it ended in a tie to save Yugi in return.

Rafael.

Rafael. That was the one exception, the one duel he'd just _lost_. No dirty tricks, no cheating, no surrendering. It was also the one that cost him the most; the duel where the Pharaoh had played the Seal of Orichalcos and in losing, lost Yugi's soul. She hadn't been there to see that duel herself, thankfully, but Joey, Tristan, and Duke had seen the end of it, and Joey's description of the way the Pharaoh had played had always chilled her heart. The Orichalcos had done something to him, made him cold and power-crazy.

And he'd lost.

Watching him now, as something similar crept over him and he became cold and merciless, she worried not only about the strange shadow power affecting his mind, but also about whether it might actually cause him to lose the duel. It shouldn't matter, she knew. If it was a Shadow Game, it clearly wasn't the kind where the loser's soul was sent to the Shadow Realm; Mokuba, Raul Pérez, Renée Carole, Kenan Bagatui, and Mako were all fine after their losses. But still, the way Pegasus had made this tournament into some kind of test, it seemed crucial that Yugi win at least his division championship. Of course, she wasn't sure they could trust Pegasus, but her gut was telling her that this duel did matter, and that Yugi had to win it or they would all be in serious trouble.

It was a close duel. At one point, Alrik had thirty-four hundred Life Points and Armed Dragon Level 3, Petit Dragon, and one facedown card on the field against Yugi's thirty-one hundred Life Points, Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress, and three facedown cards. Yugi attacked Armed Dragon Level 3, but Alrik activated the trap Interdimensional Matter Transporter, which removed Armed Dragon from the field until the end of the turn. Yugi redirected Winged Dragon's attack to Petit Dragon and Alrik lost eight hundred Life Points bringing him to twenty-six hundred.

"Why'd he do that?" Téa asked Joey. "He would've lost fewer Life Points if Armed Dragon had been destroyed."

"I'm guessing he's got Armed Dragon Level 5 and Level 7 and he's trying to summon them," Joey said. "If he gets Armed Dragon Level 7 on the field and sacrifices a high-attack monster, he can destroy all of the face up monsters Yugi has on the field that are less than the attack of the sacrificed monster, which could leave his Life Points wide open."

This did indeed seem to be Alrik's plan. On his turn, he sacrificed Armed Dragon Level 3 to summon Armed Dragon Level 5 directly from his deck. He attacked Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress, but Yugi countered with Spellbinding Circle, which kept Armed Dragon Level 5 from attacking.

"Awright, Yuge!" Joey shouted out, then explained to Téa, "That will keep Alrik from being able to summon Armed Dragon Level 7 because Armed Dragon Level 5 has to destroy a monster in battle first."

Apparently Joey spoke too soon, however. Alrik played the magic card Level Up, which allowed him to sacrifice Armed Dragon Level 5, thus destroying Spellbinding Circle along with it, and summon Armed Dragon Level 7 from his deck anyway. However, this ended his turn so he would have to wait until his next turn to use its effect.

Yugi played another facedown card, and then activated Ultimate Offering. At the cost of five hundred Life Points, either player could summon an additional monster. He and Alrik were now tied at twenty-six hundred Life Points each. He set one monster in facedown defense position, then sacrificed Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress to bring Summoned Skull onto the field. Téa wasn't sure what he was up to, as Summoned Skull had three hundred fewer attack points than Armed Dragon. Finally, he activated Pikeru's Second Sight, which required Alrik to show Yugi every card he drew for the next two turns. Sneering at Alrik in a way that made Téa distinctly uncomfortable, Yugi ended his turn.

_Just end it quickly, Yugi, and be yourself again._

Alrik drew and showed it to Yugi. It was Fake Trap, which he immediately played face down along with a second facedown card from his hand. He then summoned Blackland Fire Dragon with fifteen hundred attack points and paid five hundred Life Points to use Yugi's Ultimate Offering card, which allowed him a second summon or set. He used it to set a monster in face down defense mode, switched Armed Dragon into attack mode, and then sacrificed Seiyaryu, with twenty-five hundred attack points, from his hand to activate Armed Dragon Level 7's special effect, destroying Summoned Skull. Yugi snarled in anger, but Alrik merely grinned and attacked Yugi's facedown monster with Blackland Fire Dragon.

"Exactly what I was hoping you would do," Yugi crowed, as the monster was revealed to be Old Vindictive Magician. When flipped from face down to face up, its special effect destroyed one monster on the field. Yugi called for Armed Dragon to be destroyed, but Alrik grinned again and activated his trap, a card Téa had never seen before called Ring of Nine Lives. Nine glowing golden rings appeared around Armed Dragon's neck.

Obviously even Yugi had never seen it before, either, because he immediately demanded, "What is that?"

Alrik explained, "Ring of Nine Lives is a continuous trap card that can only be equipped to monsters with specific summoning requirements, such as those that require Ritual Summons or the sacrifice of a specific card to the Graveyard. Armed Dragon Level 7 can only be summoned by sacrificing Armed Dragon Level 5 after it's destroyed a monster in battle, or, as I did, by playing Level Up. When Ring of Nine Lives is equipped to such a monster, it protects it for nine turns. One ring disappears at each of my End Phases. I am equipping it to Armed Dragon Level 7, so it cannot be destroyed in battle or by the effect of any monster, magic, or trap card. Battle damages are applied normally. Of course, as this was not a battle, there are no battle damages."

Blackland Fire Dragon was destroyed by Old Vindictive Magician's special ability in Armed Dragon's place, and Alrik then attacked Yugi's Life Points directly with Armed Dragon, but Yugi activated his Dragon Capture Jar trap, which switched all face-up dragon monsters into defense mode and forced them to remain that way.

"That's the problem with relying too much on one type of monster," Joey told Téa. "If he's only got dragon monsters, he ain't gonna be able to attack Yugi at all unless he can get rid of that Dragon Capture Jar."

"But he can still use Armed Dragon Level 7's special effect," Kaiba criticized, "and with that Ring of Nine Lives, Dragon Capture Jar becomes a problem for Yugi, too. If Armed Dragon is in defense mode and can't be destroyed, Yugi has no way of getting at Alrik's Life Points. He's going to have to play smarter than that if he expects to beat _me _in the finals."

Téa rolled her eyes and observed to Joey, "So a stalemate until one of those trap cards gets destroyed or nine turns is up."

"Pretty much," Joey agreed.

_Great, _Téa thought. The last thing she wanted was to prolong the duel by nine turns. _Come on, Yugi, get rid of that Ring of Nine Lives._

Alrik then played one more facedown card and ended his turn. One ring disappeared from Armed Dragon's neck, leaving eight.

Yugi drew a card and smiled malevolently. He played Black Luster Ritual, sacrificing Dark Magician and Kuriboh from his hand to do so. "These are useless to me anyhow," he scoffed, and Téa exchanged a worried look with Joey.

_Two of his favorite monsters, _she thought, and Joey muttered "Come on, Yuge, don't play that way. You can beat it."

With his Black Luster Ritual sacrifices completed, he summoned Black Luster Soldier to the field with three thousand attack points. Black Luster Soldier then attacked Alrik's facedown monster and destroyed it. It was Masked Dragon, which when sent to the Graveyard as a result of battle allowed Alrik to special summon any dragon-type monster with fifteen hundred attack points or less. He summoned X-Ray Dragon, which was immediately forced into defense mode because of Dragon Capture Jar. It had three hundred attack points, an astonishing three thousand defense points, and a special effect that forced all cards to be played face up as long as it remained face up on the field.

It was back to Alrik's turn. He drew a card and showed it to Yugi as required by Yugi's Pikeru's Second Sight. The card was Mystical Space Typhoon.

"There goes Dragon Capture Jar," Joey groaned.

Alrik then activated one of his two remaining facedown cards, which was a trap called Fruits of Kozaky's Studies. This allowed him to draw three cards from the top of his deck, look at them, and replace them back on top in any order. Thanks to Pikeru's Second Sight, he was required to show Yugi these cards as well. They were Mirage Dragon, Monster Reborn, and Chaos Emperor Dragon. With a victorious grin, he replaced the cards back in his deck with Chaos Emperor Dragon on top. He then played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Dragon Capture Jar, but he left both his monsters in defense mode and ended his turn. Another golden ring disappeared from Armed Dragon's neck, leaving seven.

"What was that dragon he put on top?" Tristan asked.

"Chaos Emperor Dragon," Kaiba replied. "Not good for Yugi. It has three thousand attack points. When he draws it on his next turn, he can sacrifice it and destroy all of Yugi's monsters with three thousand attack points or less, which includes Black Luster Soldier. Yugi will have nothing on the field to protect his life Points from Armed Dragon. If he loses to that amateur…."

"He won't lose," Joey shot back through gritted teeth.

"He's short on options, though. That X-Ray Dragon keeps Yugi from playing any facedown monsters to defend himself, too. Unless he can stop Cronhielm this turn, the duel's over."

"So he needs Remove Trap or Dust Tornado or Mystical Space Typhoon or something that would get rid of Ring of Nine Lives so that Black Luster Soldier could destroy Armed Dragon Level 7," Téa mused.

"That won't work," Kaiba told her. "We already know that that last facedown card he played is Fake Trap. If Yugi tries to get rid of Ring of Nine Lives, Cronhielm just needs to activate Fake Trap and it will be destroyed instead."

"He'll think of something. He always does," Joey insisted.

"What about Swords of Revealing Light or Spellbinding Circle?" Tristan asked. "Something to keep Alrik from attacking?"

"They're both in the Graveyard. Swords of Revealing Light was in his hand when Alrik played Card Destruction and Spellbinding Circle was destroyed a couple turns ago," Mai reminded them.

Were Yugi acting like himself, this was the kind of situations where he would probably rely on what he called "the Heart of the Cards." Yugi felt a great connection to his deck and had faith that he could draw the card he needed if he just believed. Téa used to think it was a funny superstition, like baseball players who wouldn't wash their socks because they thought that would make them hit home runs. Over the years, however, she'd seen Yugi pull the exact card he needed time and time again and she, too, had begun to believe that Yugi did share a connection with the real Shadow Realm monsters that his cards represented and that if it didn't actually allow him to draw the correct card, at the least it gave him insight into strategies that would work with whatever card he did draw. Once she had asked him to explain "Heart of the Cards" to her, and he'd talked about his connection to his deck as an almost visible thing, lines tracing between them like an intricate spider's web, revealing patterns and links between them that clarified strategies in his mind several turns before he actually needed them.

Right now, however, Yugi was not acting like himself. He clearly didn't care in the least for his cards and she doubted very much that the Heart of the Cards would guide him. Without it, could Yugi draw the card he needed?

Téa held her breath as he drew. He immediately played the card he'd drawn, which turned out to be Pot of Greed. Téa continued to hold her breath as he drew two more cards, then let it out again when he looked at his cards and then grinned at Alrik. _He did it, _she thought, _he drew something he can use._

First he played Sangan in attack mode. Téa wasn't sure why; Sangan had only one thousand attack points and would be destroyed along with Black Luster Soldier if Alrik was able to use Armed Dragon Level 7's special effect and sacrifice Chaos Emperor Dragon. The next card he played was Secret Pass to the Treasures. "This allows me to attack your Life Points directly with a monster that has one thousand or less attack points."

"That will not save you," Alrik replied haughtily. "I have twenty-one hundred Life Points. You'll lose on my next turn."

"You won't get a next turn," Yugi said contemptuously.

When he played his next card, his strategy became clear to Téa and she gasped as she instantly remembered the last time she'd seen him—or more correctly, the Pharaoh—play it. It was the magic card Berserker's Soul and he'd used it to defeat Weevil Underwood in their Orichalcos duel on top of the runaway train.

"With Berserker Soul, I discard my entire hand," he informed Alrik as he did just that. "Then I draw until I get a spell or trap card. Each time I get a monster, I can attack with one of my monsters that has fewer than fifteen hundred attack points. As Sangan has one thousand attack points _and _can attack your Life Points directly…"

"You still need to draw three monsters in a row or you lose," Alrik retorted.

"Watch me," Yugi replied coldly, and Téa shuddered, remembering what happened the last time Atem had played this card, how angry he'd been at Weevil and how he'd kept attacking even after Weevil had lost and the Orichalcos had taken his soul. _Yugi and Atem are the same now, and he's acting just like he did then. The Shadow Realm is affecting him just like the Orichalcos did then. _Tensing herself, she readied herself to do what she did the last time: stop him from attacking after the duel was over.

If he made it that far, that is. If he drew a spell or trap in the next three draws…

He drew one card and showed it to Alrik. "Celtic Guardian." He ordered Sangan to attack his Life Points directly and Alrik got knocked backwards as he lost one thousand points, bringing him to eleven hundred.

He drew again. "Beta the Magnet Warrior." Sangan attacked again and Alrik was down to one hundred Life Points and was panting from the effect of the attack.

Yugi drew a third time. His lips curled into a malicious smile that made Téa's blood run cold. He turned the card and showed it to Alrik. "Dark Magician Girl."

Sangan attacked, knocking Alrik onto the ground and bringing his Life Points to zero. Before his Life Point counter had clicked all the way down to zero, Téa was on the field. She grabbed Yugi's right arm just as he drew a fourth card.

"It's over, Yugi, you won. You don't need to attack again!"

He made a move as if to shake her off, but then looked at her and she could see the change in his eyes. The anger drained away and he looked abashed. He dropped the card he was holding and as it fluttered to the ground, Téa saw it was a magic card, Magical Hats.

"I would've attacked anyway," he said, sounding dismayed. "I wanted to _hurt_ him. For no _reason."_

"It doesn't matter, you made it through," she told him. "It's over."

"Yugi Mutou is the winner of the Black Division and will move on to the tournament quarter finals!" the referee announced.

"You made it through," she repeated, pulling him into a hug, "it's over."


	10. Responsibilities

**10. Responsibilities**

The mood among Yugi's friends at dinner seemed improved over that of lunchtime. Rebecca was like a new person after her duel, as if making it through and shaking off the darkness as the duel ended had given her a clean slate, wiping away all the feelings of dread she'd been having since they'd arrived. She sat close to the fire, happily flirting with Mokuba while Kaiba looked on with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

Mai and Joey were more relaxed as well, also seeming to be relieved that they'd made it through and that no real damage had been done to anyone. Mako had gone out to catch more fish and didn't seem to care in the least that he had lost or how the duel had gone and Renée Carole also seemed to have shaken off whatever distress the duel with Mai might have caused. The only tension of the evening for Joey and Mai was when Evan, whom Yugi now realized was the same purser that had kept Joey from talking to her after that dinner, came over to chat with Mai and Joey very nearly picked a fight with him before Tristan dragged him away. Mai then argued with Joey for half an hour afterwards, but it seemed mostly the kind of bickering Yugi had come to expect from the two of them and probably relieved more stress than it caused.

It bothered Yugi that out of all his friends, he alone was still out of sorts. In fact, other than some sulking from Raul Pérez, who was still bitter about losing to Kaiba, and a few expletives uttered by one of the crewmembers over the rations dwindling faster than expected, he seemed to be the sole exception to the general high spirits around the campfire. It wasn't so much the way his duel had gone; his had seemed to be the tamest of all of them. While it disturbed him to think back on how he'd played with such disregard for his deck and his opponent, it hadn't been as bad as he'd feared and like the others, he felt a sense of accomplishment, like he'd passed a test of sorts and what was ahead wouldn't be so difficult.

Despite this, he felt a crushing sense of responsibility, like he alone had somehow been charged with the task of figuring out why this was happening and how to stop whoever was trying to bring back the Shadow Games. He had his friends, of course, all of whom were solidly behind him. But they were all looking to _him _as a leader and it felt a little overwhelming. Joey's words kept playing in his mind: _You're the brains of this operation, pal. If you're out, I'm out. If you're in, I'm in._ How did he become the one to make the decision for all of them? Strategy was _Atem's_ forte, not his.

"You've been awfully quiet," Téa observed, linking her arm with his.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I guess."

"Was it that bad?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know."

She looked at him a moment. "Let's go take a walk and talk about it."

He shook his head. "Rebecca…"

She looked up at her name. "Yeah?"

"Nothing," he replied, but Téa jumped in.

"You don't mind if we take a walk, do you?"

"Téa—" Yugi began, but this time it was Rebecca who cut him off.

"It's okay, Yugi," she said. "I don't mind."

"But—"

"Really," she said, putting a hand on his arm. "I'm… _preoccupied_ now," she said with a sly grin and a sideways glance at Mokuba. "Go. _Please."_

"Yeah, don't think Duke isn't going to be watching out for you," Yugi grinned in spite of himself as he let Téa drag him away from the fire.

Once away from everyone else, however, he grew somber again, his thoughts weighing heavily on him. Wanting to find a place where they wouldn't run into anyone else but also not wanting to get lost, Téa led him down the now familiar route south to the shallow stream where they were getting their drinking water. When they got there, they waded across and continued south toward the cliffs that cut them off from the rest of the island. They walked for a long time without saying anything, Téa occasionally marking their path with a piece of chalk she found in her jacket pocket, probably left over from some camping trip she'd gone on with her family.

"Rebecca seems more herself now," she commented after a while.

"Yeah, I'm really glad to see that. This has been really hard on her."

Téa chewed her lip a moment. "Yugi, do you really think it was the ship sinking that got to her so much?"

"I did at first," he replied, "but we talked this morning and that wasn't it at all."

Téa sighed. "It's us, isn't it?"

"Well, partially," he admitted, and then when he saw her reaction, added quickly, "but it's not what you're thinking. It's just that I was so happy about being with you I didn't realize what was going on with her, what was going on _here. _She said I was too 'preoccupied.'"

"So that's what that little in joke was all about." When he nodded, she said a little testily, "Yugi, don't let her guilt you. You spent every second of the hike over here with her, so it's not true at all that you haven't been paying attention to her."

"I was _with _her, but I wasn't _paying attention_," he disagreed. "Whatever's going on here, it feels just like it did when we were in Egypt the last six months. She's been feeling it since we got here, but I missed it."

Téa frowned. "Like Egypt? Wait, you said things were bad, but you weren't playing _Shadow Games_ in Egypt, were you?"

"No, I'm not talking about the duels. I'm talking about the whole feeling of _wrongness._ I didn't notice it until Mokuba's duel, but she knew when we landed something was wrong with this place." He looked at Téa as they walked. "I'm supposed to be looking out for her."

Téa was quiet for a moment. "And I haven't been very understanding of that."

His eyes widened in surprise. "What? No, you've been great."

"No I haven't. I… I guess I'm pretty possessive of you, Yugi," she admitted, "especially where she's concerned. It just seems like she does the whole clinging to you thing on purpose to be annoying, like on the dock when you guys first arrived."

"Oh, she definitely does that to be annoying," he agreed. "Usually. But this, here, on the island… it's different. She really needs someone. She needs _me_. Not just because I promised the professor I'd look out for her, but because of everything we went through together in Egypt."

"I know this is different," Téa said, looking down at her feet as she walked. "I guess part of it is I'm a little jealous that she got to be with you the last two years and I didn't, so I feel like I have to fight for you, and that's not fair to you or to her. I did it even just now, bringing you out here when you wanted to stay to make sure she was doing okay." She sighed. "I don't really understand everything that you both went through in Egypt, but I want to. I want to help, not get in the way."

He wasn't sure what to say to this. Even after she'd kissed him, even after she'd told him she loved him, that she wanted to be with him, it was hard for him to wrap his mind around her being _jealous_ over him, even a little. "You haven't gotten in the way," he insisted. "It's me. I'm the one who didn't get what was going on with her."

"You're too hard on yourself, you know. You can't be responsible for everything."

"That's just it, I _am_ responsible." He felt the crushing weight again.

She cocked her head, looking at him like she could read his thoughts. "You're not just talking about Rebecca, are you? I know you, Yugi. You feel responsible for all of it, don't you?"

"Because I _am_," he repeated. "Everyone's looking at me like I'm supposed to be in charge or something. You heard Joey. He's expecting _me _to know what the right thing to do is. Whenever something happens with the Shadow Realm, it's always going to be about who I am or who I used to be or whatever. Or Pegasus and Kaiba, but who knows what Pegasus's angle is and Kaiba takes a lot of pushing before he remembers that there are more important things than him and Mokuba and his business and his Duel Monsters title, so that leaves just me, and the thing is, I don't know if I can _do_ this by myself."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "By _yourself?_ What, the rest of us don't count?"

"No, no," he said quickly, realizing he'd offended her. "I don't mean that. I know I always have all of you guys and we're in this together. I mean… _me _by myself. Without _him."_

She stopped by a tree she had just marked with her chalk and turned to him. "That's what's really bothering you, isn't it?"

"I don't know," Yugi replied, stopping beside her.

"You still really miss him." It wasn't a question.

"I always miss him," he said, "but it's worse now. I'd pretty much gotten used to his memories and thinking of them as mine, but with everything that's happening…. Nothing like this has happened since he's been gone, you know?" he said, looking at her. "Before it was always really _him. _I was just along for the ride. Sure, we'd talk things over and everything, but I could always count on him to figure it all out and to be a good leader, and now it's supposed to be _me _because everyone thinks of me as him, or him as me, and I don't know if I know how to _do _this, Téa. I'm _responsible_ for everyone, but I don't have the skills to do this."

"That's not true," she objected, "on either count. You aren't responsible for any of this."

"You said it yourself, 'three days into a cruise with Yugi Mutou—'"

"I was _kidding," _she groaned. "You don't think I actually _blame_ you, do you?"

He shook his head. Blame wasn't the right word, but he didn't know another one to explain the burden he carried. "I know you don't blame me, that isn't what I'm saying. It's just… the Shadow Realm, it's like my _job _to do something about it because of who I am, or who I used to be anyway."

"It's a calling," she said, nodding in understanding.

"Yes! Only… without _him, _I'm not equipped to do this anymore. The calling is still there, but the ability isn't."

"You are _so _wrong," she said emphatically, taking his hand. "You have no idea what a leader you are. You're right in that we have been looking to you, but it's not because it's your fault or responsibility or whatever. It's because you're the strategy guy. You always have been, and that isn't just because of him," she added when he opened his mouth to interrupt. "He wasn't the one who suggested the mind swap thing to keep Pegasus from cheating in Duelist Kingdom. He wasn't the one who got Joey to break out of Marik's mind control and he wasn't the one who got that duel to the point where you could tie so you could both get free. That was _you, _Yugi.

"But more important than that, we look to you because of your strength. Atem said it himself. He said _you_ were the strong one because you had kindness and that can never be defeated, and he was right. Look at what's happening here with these duels. This is the kind of fight that _he_ would _lose_ because winning isn't what matters here. Finding a way to not give in to anger, finding a way to _do the right thing,_ that's what we're fighting for here, and that was _always _you who did that. That's what _he _learned from _you._

"_You _put yourself between Ushio and Joey and Tristan," she continued, "even though they'd taken your Puzzle and thrown away one of the pieces. _You_ stopped the attack that might have killed Kaiba even though it meant maybe losing your grandpa forever. _You _surrendered to Rebecca just because she needed a friend. _You_ lost on purpose against Joey when Marik was controlling him so he wouldn't get dragged into the ocean. _You_ tried to stop the Pharaoh from playing the Seal of Orichalcos and _you _sacrificed yourself for him. _You _defeated the evil Bakura and freed our Bakura. _You _allowed Atem to go home by beating him even though you didn't want him to go.

"You always do the right thing, Yugi. All of those things, they're things he couldn't do until he learned it from _you_. You unite us and we stand up as a team because of your example, your friendship. That's what you gave Atem and it's what you give all of us."

She shook her head. "Do you have any idea what a light you are to the rest of us?"

He groaned at this, taking his hand away from hers. "Come on, that's ridiculous," he protested.

"No it's _not_ ridiculous. You've always been the one we rally around, the one that holds us all together. Even Atem, Yugi, even _he _rallied around _you_. He was the warrior, but you've always been our _center_."

He shook his head. How could she not see how backwards she had it? "It's not me, Téa, it's _you,_" he told her earnestly.

She snorted and folded her arms, leaning back against the tree trunk. "Don't be stupid. I'm just the cheerleader."

"You are so much more than that, don't you see? If there's any truth at all to anything you've said, if I really am as strong as you say, it's only because you've always believed in me. You're the only one who believed in me even before _he_ ever came. I told you the other night on the ship that you always keep me from losing myself and it's true. From the first moment when I realized there was another me to the last time we saw him, you have been the one reminding me who I am. When I started having his memories, you're the only one who understood how that could be. Even today, you were there when I couldn't stop whatever was controlling me in that duel. You say I'm the one who centers us, but you're the one who centers _me."_

"Yugi," she breathed, and she kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer to her until he was pressing her back against the tree trunk. Everything came alive inside him, everything he didn't even realize had felt dead since the duels and the lingering presence of the Shadow Realm. All of it was wiped away by her kiss, her touch. She was pure light, illuminating the shadows in him, casting away any darkness. Her hands left his neck and slid under his jacket, coming to rest at his hips. Pulling him even closer until he was melting into her, she repositioned herself slightly until she fit perfectly against him. It felt as if they were two completely unique pieces of a puzzle, the only two who could fit each other so exactly.

A soft moan escaped his lips. "You're _amazing,"_ he told her breathlessly.

"Talk later, kiss now," she panted, silencing him as her mouth covered his.

He obeyed, running his hands down her back, wanting to pull her even closer, as if any space between them was an enemy to be overcome. Her tongue darted between his lips, sending a shiver all the way through him and his mind reeled as he tried to figure out a way to return the favor. Every sensation was new to him and he felt like he was struggling just to keep up, awkward and self-conscious about his inexperience. For a moment, embarrassment overcame desire and he pulled back. "I'm sorry, I don't know—"

She silenced him with another kiss then murmured, "You're perfect."

The thrill those words caused almost washed out the discomfiture. Almost. "But I've never—"

Another kiss cut him off. "It doesn't matter," she told him, looking into his eyes. "You are everything I've ever wanted. No one could ever make me feel like you do." She gave him a crooked smile and said pointedly, "And for what it's worth, there are some things I've never done, either."

Flushing deeper, afraid he'd insulted her, he stammered, "I… I didn't mean—"

"Oh God, you talk too much," she groaned, pulling his head to her and kissing him hard, her tongue once again finding its way into his mouth. She shifted against him, causing him to moan involuntarily and then he was kissing her back just as feverishly, pressing her back against the tree trunk again, all awkwardness burned away by his longing for her.

Then he heard a sound behind him and a new feeling clouded everything, a sense of warning. Abruptly he pulled back from her again and when she was about to protest, he covered her mouth with his hand and pulled her around to the other side of the tree. Her eyes questioned him, but he just shook his head and whispered, "Shh!"

An instant later he heard voices. "I'm telling you, we have enough here to get through at least a week," came a familiar shrill cackle.

An equally familiar lower nasal drone agreed, "Those suckers won't even know it's gone."

Téa's eyes widened as she heard them too, and she nodded in understanding, so Yugi took his hand off her mouth. "Rex and Weevil!"


	11. Reaching Out

**11. Reaching Out**

Téa turned her back to Yugi so that she could peer cautiously around the side of the tree in front of him. "Those two lowlifes are up to something!" she whispered in vehement distaste and Yugi couldn't help but agree with the sentiment.

"Let's see if we can find out what," he whispered back.

She gave a resigned sigh. "Might as well. But for the record, I'm a little tired of getting interrupted every time we're alone together."

He gave her a sideways look and a small smile and this time the heat in his face was not from embarrassment. "I hear you."

From their vantage point behind the tree, they saw as Rex and Weevil came into view. They each were carrying their jackets wrapped around some sort of bundles rather than wearing them and Weevil had a backpack strapped over both shoulders that Yugi was pretty sure didn't belong to him. _Kenan Bagatui's missing backpack, _he realized. Tramping noisily through the trees, they came to the base of the cliff and walked along it a short ways before ducking into what looked like the small opening of a cave.

Téa turned around and exchanged a glance with Yugi. He shrugged and then indicated with a jerk of his chin that they should follow. Very quietly, the two of them crept from behind the tree and made their way over to the base of the cliff. Hugging the wall, they skulked forward until they were very near the mouth of the cave. It was small and somewhat hidden by the undergrowth. Yugi would've had to duck to get inside; someone as tall as Joey or Tristan probably would have to crawl. They could see the occasional beam from a flashlight moving around within.

"You think that's enough?" Yugi heard Rex's low grunt.

"For tonight," Weevil replied shrilly, snickering in a way that would have made nails scratching a chalkboard sound pleasant in comparison. "We can always bring more later if it seems like we're going to run low."

Yugi could hear a scuffling noise and saw two beams of light pointing straight out, indicating they were probably headed back out again. He quickly ducked behind a rock and pulled Téa down with him. He saw a flash of aqua-green as Weevil's head emerged from the cave. When he was out, Rex came crawling after him. They straightened up and headed back the way they had came, now wearing their jackets instead of carrying them. Weevil still had Kenan's backpack, but it looked empty now. When they were out of sight and Yugi could no longer hear their footsteps crunching on the ground, he and Téa quietly rose from their hiding places and peered into the cave.

"We should see what it is they're stashing in there," Yugi commented.

"Oh good, I was hoping to get to crawl into a dark creepy hole tonight," Téa commented sarcastically.

"Wait," Yugi said, then felt around his belt. Next to the case where he kept his deck clipped to his belt whenever he wasn't using a duel disk was a multi-tool pocketknife. It had a very small flashlight attached to it. It wasn't very powerful, but Yugi could see enough inside to feel comfortable going in. Ducking down, he squeezed in.

"And me without my spelunking gear," Téa cracked, then added, "Hold on, I don't want to get separated," as she grabbed onto the back of his jacket and followed him in.

After only a few feet, the cave opened up and Yugi was able to stand. He flashed his light around, but the beam was too weak to really get a sense of the dimensions of the cave. It felt surprisingly large, though. Off to the right of opening, Yugi saw something as his light played over it. Directing the beam in that direction, he saw a mound of something piled up. Heading toward it, Téa still clutching the back of his jacket, he finally could see what it was Rex and Weevil must have been carrying bundled in their jackets.

"It's food!" He said. Lots of food, too. Dried rations from Sho's and Mai's backpacks, a few canteens of water, at least a dozen MREs and even some first aid and other survival gear were piled on a heap on top of one of the ship's blankets.

"Those sleazy creeps, they're hoarding food!" Téa said angrily.

"Looks like they're afraid we're going to be here long enough for the food to run out."

"Not likely with Mako Tsunami around. That guy could catch a fish in the desert, and there's plenty of edible vegetation on this island."

"'Edible' being a subjective term," Yugi replied wryly. "Then again, they're stocking MREs, and _nothing's _less edible than that. Still, they've taken quite a lot of our rations. I wonder why," he mused.

"Because they're selfish little worms who don't care if everyone else starves as long as they're set," Téa seethed. "Now we know what they were doing all day when Duke couldn't find them. Ooh, some of this is from Mai's stash, too," she added, sifting through the pile. "She's going to _kill _those little twerps. We need to take all this back."

"I think we should leave it here for now. We can report it to Evan or Amy when we get back and they can see for themselves what those two have been up to. They can bring some backpacks to carry it back," Yugi suggested.

He flashed the light around a bit more, trying to get a better sense of the size of the cave, but it just wasn't powerful enough. "I'd kinda like to come back here with a real flashlight at some point," Yugi told her. "This seems like a pretty big cave with such a small opening. I wonder how far it goes?"

"Is it just me, or does this remind you of those cave tunnels on the Duelist Kingdom island?" Téa asked.

"Yeah, a little bit," Yugi agreed. "I wonder how they found this place. The opening is so small and hidden."

"You're surprised that snakes know how to find holes in the ground?" she sniffed.

"Good point," he chuckled. "Okay, let's get out of here."

They headed back for the mouth of the cave, ducking low again to get through. Once outside, Téa let go of Yugi's jacket. Yugi started heading toward the tree where Téa had left the last mark to find their way back to the beach and their camp. When they'd gone a little ways away from the cave, Téa took his hand in hers and stopped him. "Wait," she said.

"What is it?"

"I…" she looked down at the ground, her cheeks reddening slightly, then looked back at him. "I was thinking, it won't be dark for a couple more hours and it's not like reporting on Rex and Weevil can't wait a little longer…" She let go of his hand and stepped close to him, toying with the collar of his jacket. "We don't have to hurry back just yet, do we? " she asked, locking eyes with him.

Yugi felt his mouth go dry. "I… I'm not in any particular hurry, no," he replied, his voice a little hoarse.

She smiled a smile so brilliant it made him catch his breath. Slipping her arms under his jacket and around his waist, she pulled him close. "Good," she whispered just before she kissed him.

**

* * *

**

Joey woke up with a start to find sunlight filtering into the cave. He looked at his watch and groaned inwardly… it was a few minutes before five. After his third morning out here, he thought he'd be getting used to the early sunrise, but it didn't seem to be happening. He rolled over and put his arm over his eyes, trying to block the light, but the sound of boots on the stone floor made his eyes pop open just in time to see Mai exiting the cave.

He frowned. That would make the second morning in a row she was out early, and she didn't strike him as much of a morning person. Sitting up, his eyes did a quick sweep around the cave to see if anyone else was awake. They came to rest for a moment on Yugi and Téa where they were huddled together in a corner, Yugi leaning against the wall with his arms wrapped around Téa, her head on his chest. He smiled as he remembered how chummy they'd been after coming back from their "walk" around dusk the night before. He couldn't help but be overjoyed to see his best friend so ridiculously happy. Not a person on the planet deserved it more. Now if only he could have such luck….

He sighed, his eyes going back to the mouth of the cave. Something was going on with Mai; he could feel it. And if she wasn't happy, there was no way he could be. As quietly as he could, he got up and headed out after her.

It took him a while to find her, but finally he did, up on the cliff above the campfires. Panting as he climbed his way up the slope, he came up behind her as she sat quietly on a rock overlooking the ocean.

"Nice view," he said as he approached her.

"Hey Joey," she said blandly without looking up.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Suit yourself," she said noncommittally, but she slid over to make room for him on the rock.

Sitting down beside her, he asked, "So when did you become such a morning person?"

"It's hard to sleep when the sun comes up so early," she replied.

"Is that all?" he prompted. When she didn't answer, he asked, "Is it the duels?" Still no answer. He sighed. "See, Mai, this is the part where you _trust _me. I'm supposed to be your friend, remember? We all got weirded out a little, but I'm hoping maybe that was the worst of it."

"It wasn't the duels, Joey," she said, finally looking at him and he was somewhat alarmed by the pain he saw in her eyes.

"What then?"

With another long exhale, she looked back at the ocean. "I'm having the nightmares again."

"Nightmares?" he asked, and then he realized what she was talking about. "About your duel with Marik and the Shadow Realm?"

She nodded. "It's always the same. I'm trapped in an hourglass with sand pouring down on top of me. It's everywhere; in my hair, my eyes, my mouth. It's going to smother me. And down below, you and your sister and your friends are goofing off at the beach. I keep calling, but none of you can hear me."

Hesitantly, he put a hand on her shoulder. "It must be all this talk of Shadow Games and all the weirdness of the duels," he said.

"No. It started the first night of the cruise. I haven't had that nightmare for three years, not since I left California, and now I've had it five nights straight."

Joey's heart dropped to his knees. "That's the night you first saw me again," he said, horrified. "It's because of me, isn't it?"

Immediately, she turned to him. "Don't even go there, Joey," she said sharply. "Blaming you is how I got myself into such a mess the last time. This is _not _your fault."

"But being around me seems to trigger it," he said miserably.

"No," she insisted, "it isn't you. I didn't see you at all on Sunday but I still had the nightmare that night. And these past two days with you…" she looked down as if embarrassed. "It's been the best two days I've had in a long time, Joey, even taking into account that we're shipwrecked somewhere in the middle of the North Pacific and all this possible Shadow Realm stuff. I feel _better_ when you're around, not worse. It is _not _you."

That comment would've made him soar if he hadn't been so worried about her. "Then what?"

"I wish I knew." She continued to look down at her hands twisting in her lap. "I thought I'd beaten this, I really did. How can I be so _weak?"_

Now it was his turn to admonish her. Taking her chin in his hand, he pulled her face up to look at him. "Hey, you are _anything _but weak. You have to be one of the strongest people I know, Mai."

She pulled away from him and laughed; it was a harsh, bitter sound. "Yeah, right. And yet, here I am, exactly where I started almost _four years ago._ Four years since that nut job did this to me and I'm _right back where I started."_

"No, you're not," he told her intently. "Now you have friends," he said. "Now you have _me."_

She met his eyes again and they were still filled with pain. "But not in the dream. In the dream you can't hear me, none of you can. No matter what I do, I reach out and there's no one. I can't hear anything but the ocean, I can't feel anything but _sand_."

Joey clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. He was a fighter and his impulse was to lash out and _hit_ whatever caused someone he cared about pain. But how could he fight something that was inside of her? And whatever she said about not wanting to blame him, he couldn't help but feel he _was_ to blame. When the nightmares had started, he _hadn't _been there, he _hadn't _heard her. How could she believe it was different now? How could he prove that he would always be there for her, that when she reached out he'd be there? The sound of the surf from the ocean below filled the silence as he didn't have an answer for her. Did the ocean remind her of the dream? Did it remind her of when she reached out and found no one?

An idea occurred to him then. Standing up, he took her hand and tugged on it. "C'mere," he said, jerking his head in the direction of the cliff and the ocean below.

"What?" she asked, narrowing her eyes skeptically.

"Just c'mere,' he repeated, pulling her up. Reluctantly, she got to her feet and followed him.

"Hear that?"

She cocked her head at him. "It's called the ocean, you lamebrain. I believe you have one of those in Japan."

"BZZT! Nope, not the answer we're looking for, but thank you for playing," he quipped. "Listen carefully. It's _music._ Do you hear it?"

She rolled her eyes. "You're nuts."

"No I'm not, listen." He was quiet for a moment, and then he took her right hand in his left and put his right hand on her waist.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice edged with cynicism and maybe even a hint of nervousness, but she didn't pull away from him.

"You ran off on me Saturday night at that big fancy party before I got a chance to ask you to dance, so the way I figure, you owe me a dance."

She threw her head back, rolling her eyes. "You've _got _to be kidding me."

"I'm dead serious," he said, holding her hand tightly so she couldn't back away from him. "So it's payback time. One dance, you and me, to the music of the ocean."

"Give me a break! I'll bet you've never danced in your life."

"I have so," he said. "True, I don't do it much and I'm no Téa, but for you, I woulda saved a dance. Now come on, work with me here."

"Oh, I give up," she replied, putting her left hand on his shoulder and following him as he swayed to the "music." "What song is playing?" she asked.

"Something slow," he said, and she flushed a little.

For a while they moved together, dancing to the music that wasn't there. He looked over her shoulder at the ocean, breathing in the rich smell of leather from her jacket mixed with something more earthy. Sand and saltwater, he realized, and had to grit his teeth and remind himself that it was from two days camping on the beach, _not _from her nightmare. He knew she was probably going crazy from two days without a shower or spritzing herself with one of the exotic perfumes she favored, but he found this scent strangely more enticing. He associated her perfumes with the walls she barricaded herself behind, the façade she presented to the world.

When he'd first met her, during their very first duel, she'd used different perfumes on each of her cards so that she would know what they were before looking at them and pass herself off as some kind of psychic. Not cheating, exactly—it didn't help her draw the cards she needed—but borderline, and a cheap trick nonetheless, unworthy of someone of her skills. It had been yet another way to present herself as something she's not to keep the world at a distance. Joey preferred the real Mai that she kept inside. She radiated power and presence and beauty that didn't need embellishment with perfumes, for her cards or herself.

He felt a strong urge to kiss her then, to taste her lips and her throat, to feel her smooth skin under that leather jacket, but he fought the impulse. He had another purpose for being with her right now, and he would not give into his desire, not when what she needed was a hand to pull her from her nightmare once and for all. Swallowing hard, he rotated his hand along hers so that instead of holding it politely, his fingers were now interlocked with hers in a much more intimate way. He squeezed her hand tightly and he heard her breath catch a little and she closed her eyes, sending a thrill up his back. Resolutely, he forced himself to focus on why he was doing this.

"Do you feel my hand?" he asked, squeezing hers again.

"Mm hmm," she said dreamily and he had to bite the inside of his cheek and again force himself back on topic.

"And your other hand, do you feel my shoulder there?"

"Yes," she said, opening her eyes and looking at him, now clearly wondering what he was getting at.

"And you hear the ocean?"

"Yes, Joey, what—"

"_This _is real, Mai. Not the dream. Not the sand. When you hear the ocean in your dream, I want you to remember _this. _I want you to reach for me and squeeze my hand and feel me squeeze back," he told her as he did just that. "You aren't alone, Mai. Whenever you reach for me, I will _always_ reach back."

Her eyes locked on his and for a long time he didn't think he would ever be able to breathe again as he just drank in her gaze. When she finally broke eye contact, it was to lay her head against his shoulder as her left hand came around his back and held him tightly. "Thank you," she whispered and he pressed his cheek against her hair and closed his eyes.

For a long time they remained that way, the two of them, swaying together to the music of the surf roaring against the beach below them.


	12. The Quarter Finals

**12. The Quarter Finals**

Breakfast Thursday morning went at a more relaxed pace since there were only four duels to fit into the day—two before lunch and two after—instead of eight. While they ate, Evan Haines and Amy Burns made an announcement brought cheers from everyone: they'd spent the morning heating up some water to use for bathing. The stream where they'd been getting water was too cold, so no one had really washed since Monday and everyone was thrilled at the prospect. Amy and the nine other women went first, then the men would go in two shifts.

As good as even sponging off sounded, this announcement had nothing to do with Yugi's good mood. While the women were off washing, he found himself staring blankly at the fire, reliving the previous night with Téa, while Joey sat next to him, also too preoccupied to talk, so Yugi was not interrupted from his daydreaming. It was short-lived regardless; Tristan appeared behind them and jerked them both up off their seats by the collars of their jackets.

"All right, Romeos, Evan and Amy used up all the drinking water for washing up, so guess who's just been assigned to go get more. Come on," he told them, indicating several empty water containers. "You can both moon over your girlfriends later."

Yugi blushed, the words 'your' and 'girlfriend' sounding foreign to him together in the same sentence. Foreign in a really nice way, though.

Joey, on the other hand, immediately put up a protest. "I was not mooning and I don't have a girlfriend," he shot back as they gathered up the empty thermoses and headed south toward the stream.

"Oh give me a break," Tristan rolled his eyes. "You're so moony I'd be surprised if you could even tell me what my name is. And I can take Yugi being coy, but you're too much of a big mouth for that." He shook his head. "How is it that both my best friends get girls out here in the middle of nowhere? Even _Mokuba's_ getting some action while I'm stuck in the friendship zone."

"And as long as it's my sister you're talking about, you better _stay _stuck there," Joey warned.

"Hey, you promised you'd lay off about that," Tristan said testily.

"Yeah… well… I'm just saying," Joey muttered.

Tristan threw his head back in self-pity. "I can't believe I'm forced to live vicariously through the two biggest dorks on the planet," he moaned. He looked at Yugi. "Tell us about your little walk last night, Yugi."

Yugi felt his cheeks burn. "I… uh…" he stammered.

"Yeah, Yuge," Joey added, nudging him with his shoulder, "you two definitely seemed _real happy_ after that walk."

"Stop it!" Yugi protested. "I… that's…"

"Oh, don't get your shorts in a knot, you don't have to give any details," Joey laughed. "Just tell us, though, Yuge, things are going good, huh?" Joey asked.

"Oh yeah," Yugi replied, trying not to gush but failing miserably. Remembering both the things she'd said to him the previous evening and the time they had spent _not _talking, he couldn't help but wear a broad smile. "She's… she's amazing."

"Oh really…?" Tristan drawled, eyebrows raised.

"I don't mean _that,"_ Yugi said hastily, wondering if sometime in this lifetime he could manage to go more than five minutes without blushing. At least he was getting a lot of practice functioning while mortified. "I mean the way she _knows _me like no one else does."

"Yeah, she always was the one who got the whole Pharaoh thing," Joey agreed, and Yugi was grateful for the non-salacious reply.

"Well that, yeah, but not just that either. It's like she can see right through me and pull out the best in me. That's why I've always…" he trailed off, self-conscious once more.

"Had a thing for her since forever? We know, dude, it's not exactly a state secret," Tristan said.

"I _know _you know! You have all made it _abundantly clear _that _everyone knows_ I've always liked Téa," he grumbled. "It doesn't exactly make it _less _embarrassing to talk about!"

"We're your friends," Joey said simply.

"I know; that's why I _am _telling you. This is pretty much the best thing that's happened to me _ever. _I can't not talk about it with my best friends."

"This is so cool. I _told _you she had a thing for you," Joey cried jovially, clapping Yugi on the back hard enough to make him stumble. "I'm really, really happy for you, buddy."

"Yeah, Yugi, it's awesome," Tristan agreed. "We've been pulling for the two of you to get together for a long time. A long, _long_—"

"Okay, I get it!"

Tristan laughed and turned to Joey next. "Okay, your turn. Tell us about Mai."

"Not much to tell," Joey shrugged, uncharacteristically quiet all of a sudden.

"I doubt that," Tristan said, nudging him. "I'll bet she's a great kisser."

Joey slugged Tristan on the shoulder. "Watch it," he growled.

"Oh come _on,_ throw me a bone here!" Tristan moaned. "I can understand why Yugi won't dish, but you? You've bragged about plenty of girls before."

"Shut up!"

"Just tell me about one kiss," he taunted.

"Give it a rest, Tristan," Joey warned.

"Dude…"

"I wouldn't know, okay?"

"Oh come _on, _you're full of it!"Tristan griped, but Yugi believed him.

"Just drop it," Joey grumbled.

"You're not _serious? _'Cause dude, I know I said before she doesn't care about anyone but herself, but I've gotta admit that I was totally wrong. Contrary to all known laws of nature and everything that is good and right in this universe, she is actually _into_ you," Tristan said. "Into _you,"_ he repeated, shaking his head like it was the most impossible scenario he could imagine.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means _she _is into _you._ You do get how huge this is, don't you?"

"Maybe," Joey said noncommittally.

"Maybe? _Maybe?_ Geez, Joey, you've only been carrying a torch for her for, what, like _four years_ now? And here she's _into you_ and you haven't even _kissed_ her?"

"Since when is it any of your business?" Joey said irritably.

They reached the stream and knelt down scooping up water with the containers they'd brought, while Tristan continued ranting, "The hottest girl who will ever even look at guys like us twice is _into you—_and don't even try to pretend you're not into her, too, because we all know you've fallen hard for her. You _know _you wanna kiss her… at the _very_ least."

"Okay, yeah, I wanna kiss her," Joey admitted, then sighed softly. "Man, do I wanna…."

"Then why the heck haven't you?" Tristan groaned, throwing his hands up in the air.

"You wouldn't understand," Joey replied.

"I would, Joey" Yugi said suddenly. He'd not intended on getting involved in this conversation, but something told him there was something here that was important to Joey and that maybe he should talk about it.

Joey grinned. "Yeah, Yuge, you probably would," he said.

"So what, I'm an idiot? _Yugi _would understand but not me?" Tristan complained.

"No, you'd just make fun of me," Joey retorted.

"I'm your friend!"

Joey sighed, resigned. "Okay, fine. Here's the thing. Look at her life. Everywhere she goes, guys are hitting on her, always _wanting _something from her."

"Uh," Tristan said hesitantly, "Not to make you mad or anything, but you do realize that she, uh, pretty much works it, don't you? And she knows how to handle herself."

"What am I, blind _and _stupid?" Joey asked, then quickly added, "Don't answer that," when Tristan started to open his mouth. "Listen, I know she totally flaunts it, okay? I know she uses flirting like a weapon to get whatever she wants.

"But think about her life, Tristan. You've heard where she comes from. Her mom was a lush who died when she was pretty young and her dad was a filthy rich gambler who owned casinos all over the world and who had no use for her until she hit puberty. Then when she was barely older than Rebecca, he was dressing her up in short skirts and low-cut tops and showing her off at his high-stakes poker games to distract his opponents. _Barely older than Rebecca._ Think about that. Can you even wrap your mind around the concept of someone dolling up _Rebecca _and using her to distract a bunch of dirty old men?"

This image chilled Yugi to the core. Though they'd all first heard about Mai's past way back at Battle City, she'd been rather cavalier about it at the time, so he'd never really given it much thought, but putting Rebecca in her place brought home how horrific it must have been. The idea of anyone so young being treated like that made him suddenly furious on her behalf.

Joey muttered, "I used to think _my _dad was a rat bastard—"

"Dude, your dad _is _a rat bastard," Tristan pointed out.

"Okay, yeah, but still, _her _dad better hope he never meets me in a dark alley," Joey threatened, his voice low and thick.

"So yeah," he went on, "she knows how to handle herself, because she had to learn when she was _fourteen_ how to handle herself. And then when she was sixteen she got away from that jerk and went out on her own, pretending to be twenty-one to work on a cruise ship casino where more men—sleazy men more than twice her age—constantly hit on her. Constantly wanting something from her, and she's _sixteen_.

"Just think for a second. Imagine Téa around the time Battle City was happening, imagine guys treating _her _that way. Or Serenity just two years ago. Makes your blood run cold, doesn't it?"

He shook his head. "It's just… I don't want to be just another guy who's out to get something from her. She's _important _to me, and not because she's hot. Besides, she's going through some stuff right now and needs to know she has friends, people who care about her for _her_ and that's what I want to be for her. Like I should've been after Battle City."

"I already told you, Joey, what happened after Battle City is _not _your fault," Yugi insisted, his anger and revulsion over Mai's past melting into admiration for his best friend.

"Whatever," Joey shrugged. "Anyway, that's why I haven't tried to kiss her. I'm not trying anything until I'm sure she completely gets that she means way more to me than that."

"That's really cool, Joey," Yugi told him earnestly.

"Yeah… that's like… almost _sensitive," _Tristan said, but the mocking was gentle and behind it he, too, seemed impressed.

"Shut up," Joey said without much venom. He looked a little embarrassed.

"You're a good guy, Joey," Yugi told him. "She's lucky to have you."

"Nah, I'm the lucky one. Mai's an incredible person. You guys have no idea. She's just so _alive._ No matter what happens to her, she keeps bouncing back. And under all that bluster, she has a huge heart."

"Sounds like someone else I know," Yugi grinned at his friend.

If Joey made the connection, he didn't indicate it. "I don't know how a girl like her even knows a guy like me is alive."

"Joey, you—" Yugi began, but was interrupted when they heard crunching in the underbrush behind them. They turned to see Pegasus emerge from the trees at the edge of the stream. He was carrying a canteen and was unscrewing the lid, apparently preparing to fill it at the stream. He stopped short, startled when he saw them, and Yugi was surprised to see an almost wild, fearful look in his eye. It was gone in an instant, replaced by something that looked like a mix of relief and impatience.

"Oh, it's you," he said.

"Since when do you fetch your own water?" Joey sneered. "Isn't that the kind of thing you keep Croquet around for?"

"I'm not really in the mood, Joey," Pegasus said peevishly as he knelt down beside the stream and dipped his canteen into it.

Yugi frowned. No calling Joey "Joseph." No silky smooth manners or slick, singsong voice. "What's wrong, Pegasus?"

The white-haired man looked at him. "Our situation may be much worse than we feared," he said, and again Yugi saw that sort of wild fear in his eyes. This was extremely unsettling; Pegasus was always calmly composed and gave the impression he was at every moment in complete control of his surroundings. He looked even more disturbed than he had on the night the ship had sunk.

"Why? What happened?"

Pegasus just shook his head. "I... I don't know. It may not be real, I need to find out."

"What may not be real?"

He shook his head again. "No, Yugi, not yet. You can't be involved in this yet. You have to finish the tournament. I will take care of this."

"Take care of _what?"_ Yugi demanded, his frustration rising. "Pegasus, what's going on? What has you so freaked out?"

"There isn't time, and you cannot afford to be distracted from the tournament."

"I'm so sick of hearing about the stupid tournament!" Joey said. "We're shipwrecked and all the freaky stuff going on and that's all you can talk about! I say we bag the whole thing!"

"No kidding!" Tristan agreed.

Pegasus ignored them. He stood up and capped his canteen, slung it over his shoulder, and went straight to Yugi. Grabbing him tightly by both shoulders, he looked intently into his eyes. "Yugi, Goradon won't stop the tournament, so you _must _finish it. Promise me that no matter what happens to me, you won't quit as long as the tournament is still on."

Yugi was taken aback by his intensity. "What do you think will happen to you?"

"It doesn't matter. You and the others who have fought in the Shadow Games before, you have to figure out how to break free from whatever is bringing out your dark sides when you duel or you won't be able to fight when the _real _battle comes."

"What _real _battle? Would you mind cluing us in here?" Joey asked.

"The Shadow Realm!" Pegasus snapped at Joey, but didn't let go of Yugi's shoulders. "What have we been talking about for two days?"

"You've been doing a lot of talking but you haven't _said _anything," Tristan said. "What do you know that you're not telling us?"

"Yugi, we were both of us keepers of Millennium Items. You know the Shadow Realm is here and you know the only way to fight it is to prepare. I have my own quest for the truth and I have to go now, but Goradon will continue the tournament for his own reasons. You and your friends, Yugi, _you _are the warriors. If I succeed in what I'm going to do, then it will all be done and we can all get on with our lives. If I fail… If I fail, you will have to fight, and you won't be prepared if you don't keep dueling, if you don't pass the challenges and figure out how to stop the Shadows from controlling you. Promise me, Yugi. Promise me you'll keep going."

"I..." Yugi stammered, unsure what to say. He wanted to know what was scaring Pegasus like this, wanted to _do _something more than just continue on with the tournament like nothing was happening. He felt the urgency coming off Pegasus in waves, felt the need to prepare, but he didn't know _how_. Still unsure what to say, he simply nodded.

This was enough for Pegasus. He let go of Yugi's shoulders. "I hope to be back before dusk. If I don't return, don't come after me. Don't let anything distract you from preparing to fight." With that, he turned and briskly waded across the stream, heading further inland.

"Man that guy is a freak," Joey seethed. "I say we follow him."

"I think you're right," Tristan agreed.

But Yugi shook his head. "No. I want to know what's gotten into Pegasus as much as you do, but we decided yesterday that as long as Goradon insists on continuing with the tournament, we have to keep dueling. Whatever Pegasus is up to, he'll clue us in when he can."

"You don't actually _trust _him the way he's acting?" Joey asked, incredulous.

Yugi wasn't sure how to answer that. "It's not exactly trust. I just... I know he's on our side, that's all. However twisted his methods, he is as afraid of the Shadow Realm returning as we are."

"So you really wanna just let Pegasus go off on his own?" Tristan asked skeptically.

"I don't think we have much choice. I want us to be ready for our own battle. Whatever happens," Yugi replied.

**

* * *

**

Mai walked back to the campsite with the other women feeling both refreshed and annoyed with herself. Part of feeling refreshed was getting to wash up for the first time in three days. She hadn't been able to wash her hair and she had to put back on the same dirty clothes she'd been wearing since Monday night, and she really couldn't bathe so much as sponge off, but even that felt good. Mostly, though, she was still feeling a little euphoria from the time she'd spent with Joey that morning on the cliff.

That was the part that annoyed her.

It was strange, really. He'd gone through that whole elaborate "dancing" setup and she'd been sure it was an attempt to seduce her. And it had worked, too, much to her chagrin. She was not a woman easily seduced. She found most men's lines beyond boring and only once or twice since leaving her father and going out on her own that she had ever been genuinely interested in anyone. Joey Wheeler was not only four years her junior, he was also not exactly what she'd consider a smooth operator, and yet, when he'd squeezed her hand, she'd thought he was going to kiss her and it surprised her how much she'd wanted him to.

But he hadn't kissed her. And that in itself was the oldest trick in the book, she knew. Make _them _come to you. Feign disinterest, be unattainable. It _never _worked on Mai Valentine. And yet, by not kissing her, he had made her want to kiss him that much more.

But somehow, as cynical as she was about men and the tricks they used to get what they wanted from women, she was sure it wasn't like that at all with Joey. He had been anything _but _disinterested and hadn't tried to pretend to be. Instead, he did something totally unexpected: he reminded her that he _cared. _That he was there for her, would always be there for her. No one in her life had ever done anything like that for her before. He had tried to reach into her very nightmare and change the ending and she knew then it was no seduction, no game. Joey Wheeler simply wasn't that sophisticated.

She'd almost kissed _him _at that point, and even though she told herself that she'd refrained just in case it was a ploy after all, she knew that wasn't really it. It was almost as if a kiss would somehow have ruined the moment, that what he had given her was so much more than that. That scared her and energized her all at the same time. Flings she understood. Flirting, romance, coy games, kisses that meant nothing, these were all her strengths. Strip all these things away and what was left was something she wasn't sure she was prepared to feel. Yet here she was, reliving the morning over and over like a lovesick teenager. Hell, she was no better than Téa, who'd had a dopey grin plastered on her face all morning after her evening with Yugi.

_Get a grip, Mai, _she told herself firmly. But her own smile couldn't quite fade.

When they reached the campsite, none of the boys from their gang were anywhere to be found.

"They're probably taking their turn washing up," Mai said to Téa, Serenity, and Rebecca who had been walking back with her. They sat down by the fire to wait for their return.

It turned out to be a shorter wait than they'd expected. A few minutes later, Joey, Yugi, and Tristan appeared, lugging plastic jugs full of water. After they delivered it to one of the crewmembers by the fire, they joined the girls.

"Where's Duke?" Yugi asked, and Mai could tell from his face that something had happened.

"We thought he was with you," Téa replied. "Why, what's wrong?"

The boys sat down with them. "We got sent out to bring back some water and we ran into Pegasus," Tristan informed them.

Mai raised her eyebrow. "What's he doing out in the woods?"

"I don't know," Yugi replied, "but something spooked him. He said he had to find out something and that he hoped to be back by dusk but that if he doesn't come back, we need to keep going with the tournament as long as Goradon keeps it going. Made me promise we wouldn't quit."

"Oh, I don't like the sound of that," Téa said warily. "What is he up to?"

"See?" Joey said, prodding Yugi. "She doesn't trust him either!"

"None of us do," Mai added.

"I'm telling you, we should have followed him," Joey said.

"No," Yugi said wearily, and Mai could tell they probably had been having this argument all the way back to the campsite. "I don't like what's happening with the duels any more than you guys, and I don't totally trust Pegasus, either, but something freaked him out and it takes a lot to freak out Pegasus. Whatever is coming, it's worse than the sort of quasi-Shadow Games we've already been dealing with. We've got to be ready. We've got to figure out how to not lose control."

Mai steepled her fingers under her chin. "If something worse is coming from the Shadow Realm, we're going to have to duel our way through it, aren't we? And we can't do that if we're not ourselves."

"Exactly," Yugi affirmed.

"But how do we not lose control? It isn't like we didn't try, at least not the three of us," Joey said, indicating himself, Yugi, and Rebecca. "By the time we dueled, we already knew what was coming, but none of us could stop it anyway."

"I don't know," Yugi admitted. "And no matter what Pegasus says, if he doesn't come back by dusk, we'll go after him. This section of the island isn't that big. But in the meantime, let's just try and get through today's duels. There are only four of them."

Mai hugged herself, the exhilaration from earlier that morning draining away. Her last duel had been bad enough, but what was coming would be worse, they could all sense it. Another trip into the Shadow Realm. A new nightmare to create.

Joey sat down beside her and she looked at him. _Whenever you reach for me, I will always reach back._ Without even realizing she was doing it, she held her hand out to him. He immediately took it in his and gave it a squeeze.

**

* * *

**

The plan for the day was to begin the first two duels after everyone had a chance to wash up. Duke, along with Kaiba and Mokuba, had been with the first group of men to go after the women. When they got back, Yugi gave the three of them a quick recap. Duke still trusted Pegasus implicitly, but Kaiba was suspicious of his odd departure. Nevertheless, his priority continued to be finishing the tournament.

After Yugi, Joey, and Tristan got back from their turn at washing up, Mr. Goradon gathered them all on the beach. It was then that Evan noticed Pegasus's absence, to which Croquet gave a vague explanation, something about a morning constitutional. Evan wanted to stop everything to go search for him, but Goradon and Croquet assured him that despite his appearance, Pegasus was a seasoned outdoorsman and could take care of himself. This wasn't good enough for Evan, who took one of the other crewmembers to help him go search for the Duel Monster creator. Personally, Mai didn't give them good odds of success. If Pegasus didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be.

Meanwhile, Goradon continued with the tournament. He and Croquet put four slips of paper into someone's backpack and drew them out to determine the order of the duels. Joey's and Leon's came up first, then Mai's and Jacques's, Kaiba's and Zigfried's, and last, Yugi's and Rebecca's. Yugi was disappointed that he was last once again. He wasn't crazy about being slated to duel Rebecca while something might bring out the darkness in either or both of them and had hoped to get it over with quickly.

Joey and Leon's duel was first and went pretty much as they'd expected. It was a little hard to watch because Leon von Schroeder was such a nice kid. As he had with Mako, Joey played with a fierce anger, not only defeating Leon in a last-minute comeback, but knocking him off his feet in the process. He apologized when it was over as Serenity walked him off the field.

Mai and Jacques's duel was next. Jacques was a mean player to begin with and Mai very quickly fell under the control of whatever Shadow force was working on them and the duel as a result was vicious. Mai prevailed in the end, and Kaiba was satisfied to see Jacques out of the tournament at the hand of someone who, for whatever reason, was willing to play rough. When the duel ended, however, Mai seemed to have a harder time coming out the weird spell than Joey had; it took Joey shaking her by the shoulders before she was herself again, but at least she didn't knock him over this time.

At lunch, Evan and the other crewmember that had gone with him returned to report they had not found Pegasus. Again Croquet assured them of his boss's survival skills, but Evan insisted on putting together a full search party if he wasn't back before dinner.

After the lunch break—more fish provided by Mako—Kaiba and Zigfried dueled. It was similar to Mai's match against Jacques, although with Kaiba it was more difficult to tell if he was being controlled as he was a harsh player to begin with. This duel lasted longer than usual, but in the end Kaiba defeated Zigfried soundly with twenty-three hundred Life Points left when Zigfried's went down to zero.

After Kaiba's duel, there was an hour break before Yugi and Rebecca's duel was slated to begin. They were standing together on the beach along with their other friends, joking with each other, trying to keep their mood light, hoping to remember their affection for each other so things wouldn't go too badly. Rebecca was sharing a story about a weekend trip they'd taken with her grandfather before they'd left Cairo for the desert, back when they'd still been enjoying Egypt. She was interrupted by someone calling out Yugi's name.

Yugi turned to find Sho Inoue running down the beach toward them.

"Hey Sho," he greeted warmly.

"Yugi, I have something for you. Someone told me to give it to you just before your duel. It's supposed to bring you good luck." He stuck his hand into his jacket pocket and began fishing around for something. He found it and pulled his hand back out of his pocket, clutching something gold.

Joey, who was standing closer to Sho than Yugi, grabbed the thing from Sho. "A good luck charm, huh? Let me see—"

He stopped abruptly and dropped the object with a shriek.

"What's your problem?" Mai teased him, "you screamed like a little girl." But Yugi frowned when he saw that Joey's face was pale. Concerned, he bent down and picked the item off the beach and looked at it. When he saw what it was, he sucked in his breath and almost dropped it himself.

"It... it must be a fake," he breathed.

"Yugi, what is it?" Téa asked, alarmed.

He held the object out in front of him so they could all see. It was a golden ring about the size of Yugi's fist. It hung on a chain and had five arrows dangling from it. In the center of the ring was a triangle with the symbol of the Egyptian Eye of Horus embossed on it. Téa gasped when she saw it and Tristan exclaimed "No way!"

The object Sho had brought Yugi was the Millennium Ring.


	13. The Millennium Items

**13. The Millennium Items**

"What's that?" Rebecca asked, and Yugi remembered that Rebecca hadn't known Bakura when he'd been possessed by his own _Yami _spirit from the Millennium Ring.

"It… it looks like one of the Millennium Items," Yugi explained. "The Ring that used to be Bakura's."

Rebecca's eyes widened and she took a step back. "Wasn't that the one with the evil spirit?"

"Yes, but he's gone," Yugi assured her.

"I thought you said all the Millennium Items are gone," Mai observed, stretching to see it over Yugi's shoulder.

"They are," Yugi replied. "This has to be a fake." And yet…. He examined the Ring closely. "It's a very _good _fake, though. I can't really tell by looking at it if it's real or not. It… it looks real." Was it possible? Could someone have actually dug them out again? How deep _was _that chasm they'd fallen into?

"It can't be real," Joey insisted. "Can it?"

"Is… did I do something wrong?" Sho asked looking worried.

In his shock over seeing the Ring, Yugi had forgotten Sho was there. "No, no, it's not your fault, Sho," he assured the younger boy quickly. "This just looks like something that once belonged to a friend of ours, something that was supposed to have been lost forever. Someone is playing a practical joke on us, I think. Who gave this to you?"

"It was that guy with the bug deck, the one you beat in the first round."

"Weevil Underwood!" Yugi groaned, putting his hand to his forehead. He exchanged a guilty look with Téa; they'd forgotten all about Weevil and Rex's food hoarding and never reported it to anyone. _I'm letting Téa distract me from everything else going on again, _he admonished himself.

"That's him," Sho confirmed. "I _knew _I shouldn't have trusted him. I saw how mad he got when you beat him, but he said he was your friend and that was all just trash talk for the match. Since he had that good luck charm you always used to wear, I figured—"

"Good luck charm?" Yugi gasped. "What good luck charm?"

"You know, that one you used to wear all the time, like an upside-down pyramid. I'd seen pictures of you from Battle City and the KC Grand Championship with it. He said you'd given it to him and he wanted to give you this thing to return the favor."

"No _way _he's got the real Millennium Puzzle," Joey breathed, furious. "I swear I'm gonna pound that little cockroach the next time I see him. Where the heck did he get a hold of a couple of fake Millennium Items anyway?"

"Did he have any more objects like this?" Yugi asked Sho. "A scale or a necklace or a rod or a small gold eyeball-looking thing or a sort of key shaped like an ankh, anything with an eye like this on them?" He showed Sho the Eye of Horus embossed on the Millennium Ring.

Sho shrugged. "I didn't see anything else. But you know, he did say something like 'there's plenty more luck to go around.'"

Yugi looked at Joey. "He's hinting he has more."

"Why?" Tristan asked. "What in the world would Weevil want with a bunch of fake Millennium Items?"

"That's the wrong question. First of all, we don't know for sure they're fake. Probably, but still, this Ring is very authentic," Yugi said, holding it up. "Professor Hawkins or Ishizu could probably tell just by looking if it's real, but I can't. Either way, though, the question is: how did Weevil Underwood manage to get a hold of two Millennium Items or high quality imitations?"

"He had to have gotten them from someone else," Téa replied.

"Who has those kind of resources?" Joey asked, and then they all said in unison, "Pegasus!"

But Yugi shook his head. "No, I don't think it was Pegasus. Remember how freaked out he was this morning? He said 'It may not be real,' remember?"

Joey's eyes widened. "You think Weevil showed him the Millennium Items he has?"

"I think that might be it. If a very realistic Millennium Eye turned up, for instance…"

Tristan whistled. "That'd freak Pegasus out."

"And if there's any chance they are real, then I'm afraid the Shadow Realm is probably already open," Yugi added, his heart sinking.

"So maybe that Underwood toad is the one working for our grave robber after all," Mai suggested. "Pegasus did say he was someone with a lot of resources."

"Weevil certainly isn't going to end up with something like this on his own," Yugi agreed, indicating the Ring again. "I really need to see the Millennium Puzzle, though. I'm positive I'll be able to tell if that's real or not."

"Yugi," Téa said, and he turned to see her eyes wide and her face pale. "Yugi, if he has the real Puzzle, then… could…?"

_Atem. She's wondering if Atem could come back._ Honestly, he had no idea. He just shrugged, looking down, not wanting to think about what that could mean, but unable to stop himself. What would happen to him and Téa if Atem came back again?

With great effort, he dragged his attention to Joey, who was questioning Sho. "Hey kid, where were you when Weevil gave you the Ring?"

"At the campfire last night. He pulled me aside and said he wanted me to do him a favor," Sho replied.

"Last night?" Yugi asked, surprised. This must have been after he and Téa saw Rex and Weevil. "If he gave you the Ring last night, why did you wait until now to give it to me?"

"He said to wait until just before your duel. Said he wanted to surprise you."

"He's trying to distract me from the duel. Maybe he's even hoping I'll back out to go searching for him."

"We start in just a few minutes, too," Rebecca pointed out.

"That doesn't make a lot of sense," Mai said. "Why would he want to show Yugi the Ring if he didn't want something from him, like challenging him to a duel or something?" She looked at Sho. "Did he tell you to have Yugi meet him somewhere or challenge him to a duel or something?"

"Nope, nothing like that," Sho answered. "He just gave me that thing and said 'Do me a favor. Give this to my good friend Yugi Mutou. It's for good luck.'" He turned to Yugi. "And when I told him it didn't seem like you two were good friends when you dueled him, he showed me the pyramid-thingy and said you gave him your good luck charm a couple of years ago and now he wanted to return the favor. Then he said something about there being a lot more luck to go around and took off."

Joey clapped Yugi on the shoulder. "Don't worry. You and Rebecca go duel. The rest of us can split up and start searching for the little freak. This section of the island isn't that big, so he couldn't have gotten far."

Yugi looked at Téa again. "Actually… Téa and I know where he might be. We saw him and Rex stealing food and hoarding it in a cave last night, probably right before he gave the Ring to Sho."

"What? Why didn't you say something?" Duke asked.

Yugi saw Téa's cheeks color and felt his own face get warm. He shuffled his boots in the sand. "Uh… we sorta forgot."

"You _forgot?_ How could you—" Duke started, but then it seemed to click and he gave Yugi a crooked grin. "You _dog!"_

Resolutely ignoring his increasing embarrassment, Yugi said, "Téa, you take the others back to that cave. See if you can get some flashlights from the stuff we brought from the lifeboats."

"Wait a second," Téa protested, holding up her hands. "I'm not missing your duel!"

"We don't have a choice. We're the only two who know where that cave is and I think we should go after him as soon as possible. He doesn't know we know about the cave, so that gives us an advantage. We need to press it."

She shook her head. "No way. If you're going to go through with these creepy dark duels, you need to have your friends around you."

"What if Serenity and I stay and support Yugi and Becky and the rest of you can go?" Duke suggested. "Téa can show you where to go and if Rex and Weevil are looking to duel someone to get back the Puzzle, Joey and Mai can do it. Tristan can be the brute squad."

"Thanks a lot," Tristan snapped, though Yugi wasn't sure whether it was the brute squad crack or the fact that this proposal involved Duke and Serenity staying together that irked him. Either way, Yugi thought it wasn't a bad plan.

"That sounds good."

"No it does _not_ sound good," Téa objected. "I am not going off into the woods while you duel, Yugi, not if there's even a remote chance that this is going to be some sort of Shadow Game."

He put his hand on her arm. "It'll be okay. It only will last as long as the duel does. I need to get that Puzzle as soon as possible, Téa."

Her eyes met his, wide with concern, but she didn't say anything.

"Besides, if you find Weevil quickly and get the Puzzle, you can probably be back before it's over," he added after a moment.

"Not if I kick your butt in the first few turns," Rebecca quipped.

"As if," Yugi shot back, trying to lighten the tension.

"It's not a joke!" Téa shouted.

"Téa, it'll be fine. Duke and Serenity will watch out for us. Go. Find Rex and Weevil and the Millennium Puzzle so we can figure out what's going on here."

Behind them, Nelson called out, "The quarter-final duel between Black Division champion Yugi Mutou and Yellow Division champion Rebecca Hawkins will begin in five minutes. Mr. Mutou and Miss Hawkins, please report to the dueling field."

"We've gotta go," Yugi told Téa. "Go. Find the Puzzle."

She nodded, but didn't look happy. "I have a bad feeling about this, Yugi."

"It'll be fine."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Good luck," she said and then turned to Rebecca. "Good luck to you, too."

Joey and Tristan each wished him luck as well, Tristan clapping Yugi on the back and Joey clasping his hand. "We'll be back as soon as we find that creep," Joey told him. Then they wished Rebecca good luck as well.

Yugi held the Millennium Ring out to Joey. "Maybe you should take this. The real one would point to other Millennium Items when it got near them. If it is real, it would help you find them and if it isn't you'd be able to tell as soon as you got it near the Puzzle."

Joey looked at it like it might bite him. "Uh, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not be anywhere near that thing, not after the number the real one did on Bakura."

Mai rolled her eyes and elbowed Joey out of the way. "Give me a break, you big baby. I'll hold it," she said, taking the Ring from Yugi. Then she, Joey, and Tristan followed Téa toward the cliffs where she and Yugi had seen Rex and Weevil the night before, while he, Rebecca, Duke, and Serenity headed down the beach to the dueling area with a confused Sho trailing behind them. Kaiba and Mokuba were there, standing at the edge of the group that had gathered to watch the last duel of the day.

"Where's the rest of your little pep squad?" Kaiba asked, frowning as Yugi and his friends approached.

"They went looking for Weevil Underwood. Apparently he managed to get a hold of some Millennium Items."

Kaiba's eyes widened. _"What?"_

"I don't think they're real," Yugi quickly amended, "but he gave Sho Inoue a very realistic-looking Millennium Ring to give to me, and Sho says he was wearing something that looked like the Millennium Puzzle."

"What would a loser like Underwood be doing with fake Millennium Items?" Kaiba asked.

"I don't know, but Joey, Tristan, Mai, and Téa went to go find out."

"And miss your duel?"

"We need to get to the bottom of this. Weevil couldn't come across such high quality fakes on his own."

Kaiba glowered dangerously. "Good point. I'm still not convinced he and that Raptor moron didn't have something to do with that landslide that almost killed Mokuba and Téa and trapped us all here."

Yugi didn't answer.

"Forget about that," Serenity said, stepping between Yugi and Kaiba. "You've got a duel to think about."

"Right," he said. His gaze met Rebecca's. "You ready?"

She nodded.

"Rebecca, whatever happens—"

She shook her head, cutting him short. "I know." She then put on her Battle Face and switched on her duel disk. "Let's duel!"

* * *

Téa's bad feeling did not improve as she, Joey, Tristan, and Mai headed south past the stream toward the cave where she and Yugi had seen Rex and Weevil the night before. Her mind was reeling with the possibility of what it might mean if the Millennium Puzzle was real. With everything that had happened between her and Yugi over the past few days—over the past few years, really—she wasn't sure she was prepared to deal with the confusion even the possibility of Atem returning could cause. It made her feel very possessive of Yugi, _her _Yugi, like she suddenly might have to prove where her loyalties lay.

_But no, he couldn't come back. We saw him go into the spirit world. Even if the Shadow Games come back, even if the Puzzle is real—which it probably isn't—he couldn't come back._

But this whole train of thought made her uncomfortable. Two years ago she would've jumped at the chance for his return, and now the very thought made her uneasy. Could it possibly be that after only two years she wouldn't _want _him to come back if he could? That she much preferred the simplified answer of viewing Yugi as both of them merged together than being forced to face the two of them as separate people? If Atem was Atem, then would Yugi then only be part of the person he was now? They were questions she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answers to.

Fortunately, reaching the cave offered her a distraction so she didn't have to think about it further. "There it is," she pointed, "behind that bush."

"That?" Mai said dubiously. "It's just a hole in the cliff."

Téa shook her head. "No, it's bigger inside. At least it seemed big, anyway. We couldn't really see much because the only light we had was the little one on Yugi's penknife."

"Well, these oughtta be good enough," Joey said, indicating the two large flashlights they had taken from the stash of ten that Evan kept in the cave. He held one and Téa held the other.

The reached the cave entrance and Joey motioned with his flashlight. "Ladies first."

"Oh _honestly," _Mai groaned, "what a chicken!"

"I am not, you take that back!" Joey shouted, but Mai had already gotten down on her hands and knees and was crawling into opening. Joey followed behind, then Tristan, and Téa last.

When Téa was inside, she straightened up, then gasped when she saw the cave illuminated by two strong flashlights.

It was cavernous.

"I thought it was big, but…" she breathed.

"Anyone else thinking of those tunnels at Duelist Kingdom?" Joey asked apprehensively.

"Yeah, Yugi and I thought the same thing last night," Téa agreed. She directed her flashlight to the corner where the food had been stashed. "Here's the food—" She stopped short when she saw the blanket lying empty on the ground. "It's gone!"

Tristan went over to examine the blanket. "They must've moved it somewhere." He straightened and directed his flashlight around the large cave. "Looks like there are some tunnels down at the other end," he said.

"Greeeeeeaat," Joey moaned. "It is just like Duelist Kingdom."

"Oh, quit being such a baby," Mai snapped.

"You know what," Tristan said thoughtfully, motioning for Téa to train her light ahead into the darkness. "If this _is _a tunnel, maybe it would take us back to the main part of the island where the rest of the passengers and crew are."

"First thing's first," Mai said impatiently. "Let's go see if we can find where Weevil got off to."

"WEEVIL! COME OUT, YOU LITTLE COCKROACH!" Joey screeched, startling them all as his voice echoed around the cave.

"Joey, SHUT UP!" they all yelled back.

"So much for taking him by surprise," Tristan groaned, smacking Joey in the back of the head. "Good going, lamebrain."

"Like he's not waiting for us to show up. Why else would he tell Sho to give Yugi that Ring?"

"Still, a little sneak attack would've been nice," Tristan complained, then smacked Joey again for good measure.

"Would you two stop it?" Téa chided, irritated. "Let's just see if we can find him or whatever he's trying to pass off as Millennium Items. I want to get back to Yugi's duel." She still had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach about Yugi and Rebecca dueling each other under the influence of some sort of darkness. "Mai, see if the Millennium Ring is glowing or pointing at anything."

Mai pulled the Ring out of her pocket. It was completely inert. She shrugged. "Either it's fake or the other Items aren't nearby."

They crossed the cavern, trying to stay close to the wall. At the far end, there was an opening, larger than the one that led outside. They were able to squeeze through it without crawling, and found themselves in another compartment, smaller than the first, but still quite large. They walked a few more steps before Joey shrieked, startling them once more.

"Now what's your problem?" Mai barked.

"Uh… I just kicked something and it doesn't feel like rock," Joey whispered, panicky.

Téa trained her flashlight at Joey's feet and cried out in surprise. Lying in an unconscious heap lay Pegasus.

"Pegasus!" Tristan cried as Joey knelt down beside him. "Is he okay?"

"He looks pretty pale and it's creeping me out. Looks like something out of one of those late night vampire movies," Joey replied, shuddering. "Man, I wish Serenity was here. She took some EMT classes last winter."

"He's not… this isn't a Shadow Realm thing, is it?" Téa asked, worried.

Joey shrugged. "I don't know. I don't remember anyone else in the Shadow Realm looking so pale like that. Oh wait," he said, pulling on Pegasus's arm. "Look, he's wearing a duel disk!"

"A duel disk? I don't think I've ever seen him duel with a duel disk," Mai commented.

"Well, it's not like there are a lot of dueling stages around here," Tristan replied.

"If he's got a duel disk, then maybe he _was _beaten in a Shadow Game," Téa said, hugging herself uncomfortably.

"But who?" Mai asked. "Somehow I don't think Weevil Underwood has it in him."

"Rex maybe?" Tristan suggested.

"I don't think either of them are good enough," Mai said, "and Pegasus, foppish act aside, is kind of a scary guy when he wants to be."

"You beat him in an Orichalcos duel," Tristan pointed out.

"You are not _seriously _putting those two idiots in the same league with _me_," Mai said darkly. "And anyway, that was a duel with a souped up evil magic card. This…"

"We don't know what this is," Téa said quietly.

"Huh. His deck is gone," Joey observed, looking at the duel disk. Téa saw that it was empty of cards.

"Okay, now stealing someone's deck? _That _sounds like something Rex or Weevil would do," Mai snorted.

"Check this out," Tristan said. He picked up something small, round, and gold from the cave floor beside Pegasus.

"The Millennium Eye!" Téa cried.

"Yugi was right," Joey nodded as Tristan took the Eye and shoved it into his coat pocket.

"So what do we do now?" Joey asked. "Keep looking for Rex and Weevil or take Pegasus back to the campsite?"

"We have to take Pegasus back, he needs that former navy medic—what's-his-name, Harrison—to look at him," Téa said, feeling more and more strongly the need to get back, Millennium Puzzle or no.

"Oh great, my favorite pastime, carrying around unconscious bodies," Tristan groaned. He looked around, then frowned. "Hey wait, look over there. There's a light coming from that opening. Maybe it's another way out." He stood up and headed that way.

"Hey, wait a second, you're just looking for an excuse to get out of carrying Pegasus!" Joey complained, but Tristan was already gone.

"Come on, Joey, we'll help you lift him," Mai said.

Together, Joey, Mai, and Téa got under Pegasus and heaved him up to sling him across Joey's back, but then a long whistle from Tristan stopped them.

"Uh, guys? You're not gonna believe this," he said, his voice low and sort of awe-struck.

"What, isn't that another way out?" Joey asked.

"Not exactly," Tristan said. "I think we're going to need to bring Yugi back here as soon as his duel's over. He needs to see this."


	14. Fighting the Shadows Within

**14. Fighting the Shadows Within**

Yugi covered his face with his arm as Rebecca's Luster Dragon wiped out his Beta the Magnet Warrior, taking two hundred of his Life Points with it. Fury welled up within him as Rebecca, looking every bit as enraged as he was, called out, "And that leaves your Life Points wide open to a direct attack from Marie the Fallen One!"

The blue-faced winged creature began her attack, but Yugi pulled Kuriboh out of his hand. "Stupid, worthless, weak monster, the only thing you're good for is _this,"_ he cried, discarding Kuriboh into his graveyard.

He heard a gasp behind him, and Serenity called out, "Yugi, don't talk like that! Joey says Kuriboh is one of your favorites!"

_Shut up you stupid priss,_ he thought savagely, then brought his attention back to the duel. Discarding Kuriboh made the damage from Marie's attack zero, so his Life Points hovered at twenty-four hundred. Rebecca had only two thousand Life Points, but she had Solemn Wishes on the field, a continuous trap that would increase her Life Points by five hundred points every time she drew. Rebecca ended her turn.

"My move," he shouted, drawing a card. Looking at it, he smiled. Pot of Greed. He played it, then drew two more cards. Even better. Cross Counter and Gamma the Magnet Warrior. Alpha was already in his hand, along with Diffusion Wave-Motion, which was useless without a Spellcaster monster on the field, and The Reliable Guardian. Of course he had just lost Beta. But Monster Reborn was somewhere in his deck. If he could hold her off until he drew it, he would be able to summon Valkyrion the Magna Warrior. With the two cards he just drew, he might be able to do just that. After two years of playing with that brat in Egypt, he knew her methods inside and out. She usually attacked facedown monsters with her weaker monsters first, hoping to reserve her stronger monsters for direct attacks against her opponent's Life Points. If she ran true to form, this combination would work perfectly.

"I play one monster in facedown defense position," he said, putting Gamma the Magnet Warrior horizontally onto the monster slot on his duel disk, "and play two more cards facedown," he added, putting Cross Counter and The Reliable Guardian into the trap/magic slots. Three giant holographic facedown cards appeared on the field before him. "I end my turn."

Rebecca drew, increased her Life Points by five hundred, and played one card face down in the magic/trap card slot, then attacked his defense monster with Marie the Fallen One. This flipped Gamma face up, showing Rebecca that its eighteen hundred defense points were higher than Marie's seventeen hundred attack points.

"I activate Cross Counter! This doubles the battle damage you receive to your Life Points and sends Marie to the graveyard!" he crowed.

Rebecca bent over as Marie disintegrated and her Life Points took two hundred points of damage, bringing her to twenty-three hundred. When she straightened, she was smiling vindictively. "Thank you! With Marie the Fallen One in my graveyard, I gain two hundred more Life Points every turn! Not only that, Luster Dragon has more than enough attack points to finish off Gamma the Magnet Warrior. What a pathetic waste of a move!"

"Becky!" Yugi heard Duke call out. "Come on, don't play like that."

"Yeah, Rebecca, you can beat it!" Mokuba added.

"The only thing I need to beat is _him,"_ she growled in Yugi's direction.

Yugi's fists balled in fury. He had never loathed anyone in his life quite so much as he loathed this stupid brat of a girl…

_No! I don't hate her! She's my friend! _he thought wildly.

_DUELISTS HAVE NO FRIENDS. ONLY OBSTACLES TO VICTORY. SHE IS IN MY WAY!_

He struggled against the voice screaming in his head. _No, she's my friend…_

_ONLY OBSTACLES!_

Rebecca called her attack and Luster Dragon went after Gamma the Magnet Warrior. Triumph rang through him, allowing the screaming voice to overpower the softer one. With savage glee, he activated the instant magic card Reliable Guardian. "This adds seven hundred defense points to Gamma the Magnet Warrior, making him stronger than your Luster Dragon. I'm afraid you'll be losing another five hundred Life Points. Oh, and I have to thank you for being so utterly predictable. If you had attacked with Luster Dragon first, I could never have used Reliable Guardian against you. It only works on face up monsters, and you took care of that nicely when you attacked with your weaker monster first."

"You'll pay for that cheap shot," she growled. "I have one more move before I end my turn. I summon Fire Princess in attack mode."

"Whatever," he spat back. He drew Swords of Revealing Light. Not the card he needed, but it would help him stall until he could draw it.

"I play Swords of Revealing Light," he announced, sliding the card into the magic slot. Bright white swords flashed from the sky, surrounding Rebecca's Luster Dragon and Fire Princess, preventing them or any other monsters she might summon from attacking for the next three turns. His Gamma the Magnet Warrior had enough attack points to wipe out Fire Princess, but her facedown card worried him. She wouldn't have played Fire Princess in attack mode at the very end of her turn when it was too late to attack him unless she had a way of protecting her. If he attacked, he risked losing Gamma, putting two of his three Magnet Warriors in the graveyard, taking him even further away from his goal of summoning Valkyrion. Though every inch of him ached to attack her, to cause her pain, he decided not to risk it. He ended his turn.

"Fine," she snapped, and drew. "Now I get an increase of two hundred Life Points thanks to Marie the Fallen One in my graveyard, and as long as Fire Princess is on the field, her special effect costs you five hundred points of direct damage to your Life Points whenever _my _Life Points increase. Then I get _another _five hundred Life Points from Solemn Wishes, so you lose _another _five hundred Life Points. And so sorry, but since it's an effect and not an attack, Swords of Revealing Light is useless against it."

Yugi growled as her Life Points went up to twenty-five hundred and his went down to fourteen hundred.

"Now I play Witch of the Black Forest in defense mode," she said, playing her monster face up because Swords of Revealing Light did not allow her to play any monsters face down. She played two more facedown cards in the spell/trap slot and ended her turn. "You can't hide behind Swords of Revealing Light forever. Only two turns left."

"It's all I'll need," he shot back.

He drew and looked at his card. Mirror Force. That would protect his monsters once Swords of Revealing Light was lifted. He played it face down and ended his turn.

Rebecca drew, beginning her second turn under Swords of Revealing Light. Her Life Points went up another seven hundred and his went down another thousand, bringing her to thirty-two hundred and him to four hundred. He had to do something to get rid of Fire Princess or she'd have him on his next turn without ever attacking. Even if it meant sacrificing Gamma the Magnet Warrior. She then sacrificed Luster Dragon and Witch of the Black Forest to summon her trump card, Guardian Angel Joan. The effect of her Witch of the Black Forest being sent to the graveyard allowed her to take any monster from her deck with fewer than fifteen hundred defense points and add it to her hand. She found the card she wanted, put it in her hand, shuffled her deck, and ended her turn.

Yugi drew Graceful Charity. He played it and drew three more cards: Gazelle King of Mythical Beasts, Dark Magician, and Fissure. He now had these three cards plus Alpha the Magnet Warrior and Diffusion Wave-Motion in his hand. Graceful Charity required him to discard two cards so he chose Diffusion Wave-Motion. Dark Magician would do him no good if he didn't have enough monsters to sacrifice, so he put that in the graveyard as well.

"I summon Gazelle King of Mythical Beasts in attack mode," he announced, "and play the Fissure spell card to destroy Fire Princess." Now only Alpha the Magnet Warrior remained in his hand.

"Big deal! I still get seven hundred Life Points every turn thanks to Marie the Fallen One and Solemn Wishes, and once your Swords of Revealing Light is gone, Guardian Angel Joan will also increase my Life Points. You've only got four hundred Life Points left. You can't win!" Rebecca shouted.

"Watch me, you little brat," he shot back.

"Yugi!" he heard Serenity and Duke both call out. He ignored them both and saw Kaiba out of the corner of his eye watching him, his eyes cold.

_You keep watching, _Yugi thought, filled with revulsion, _because I'm coming for you next, Kaiba. I'll crush you in the finals._

But first, he needed to finish off Rebecca. "It's your move."

**

* * *

**

Téa thought she'd been surprised by the size of the first chamber of the cave, but that was nothing compared to what was before her now. She, Mai, and Joey, Pegasus slung over his back, stood behind Tristan in the opening he had found, all of them too stunned to speak.

The place where they stood opened out onto a sort of ledge overlooking an immense cavern, lit throughout by torches at even intervals along the walls. The ledge circled around from the opening on either side, and on the opposite side of the chamber from them, a path gradually sloped down from the ledge into the cavern below. Lining the walls were eight large stone tablets, four on each side, also placed at regular intervals between the torches. They were all etched with detailed carvings and looked ancient. They reminded Téa of the stone slab Ishizu Ishtar had brought to the Domino Museum, the one that detailed the history of the duel between Pharaoh Atem and Master Seto.

"Those are Egyptian hieroglyphics," she breathed.

"On a deserted island in the North Pacific," Joey added.

Téa swallowed. "What _is _this place?" Suddenly the idea that the Millennium Items could be real after all seemed a little less unlikely.

"I don't know," Joey replied, "but we're gonna have to find out."

"Not without Yugi we're not," Tristan cautioned. "This place is a little too Indiana Jones for me. We need someone who can figure out what those hieroglyphics mean."

"First we get a dramatic recreation of _Titanic, _now _Raiders of the Lost Ark,"_ Mai observed wryly. "Think our grave robber is a movie buff?"

"Those grave robberies!" Téa cried. "Do you think those artifacts are here?"

"Who knows," Tristan shrugged. "We still need to find Rex and Weevil and the Millennium Items, too. And look," he added, pointing around the ledge to the left.

"What?" Joey asked.

"An empty MRE wrapper."

Joey squinted. "You can tell that from here?"

"Dude, I'm in the _army._ Sadly, I'd recognize those things from five clicks away."

"Then Rex and Weevil were definitely in here," Téa said.

"Boys and girls, welcome to Screwed Ville. Population, us," Mai said through gritted teeth, shaking her head. "You realize what this means, don't you? We have officially been set up."

"Huh?" Joey asked, turning to her.

"You don't think it's _coincidence _that we ended up on an island that happens to have a whole Egyptian tomb theme park underneath it," she said. "Remember how we were off course before we sank? How the lifeboats had just enough fuel to come _here? _We thought it was all to make it harder to find us, but obviously we were _brought _here _deliberately."_

Joey's eyes widened. "If that's true, then _everything _has to be a setup. Of all the venues Pegasus could've chosen for his tournament, he couldn't have just _happened _to pick an Alaskan cruise that gets us in this general vicinity." His eyes narrowed again as he looked back at the unconscious man slung over his back. "I have half a mind to just haul him over the ledge, the little…"

A thought suddenly occurred to Téa and she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

"What?" Joey and Tristan asked in unison, turning to her.

"If we were brought here on purpose, then maybe whoever did all this wasn't trying to stop the tournament after all. Maybe the whole point was to duel _here. _It wasn't until we got here that everything started going nuts with the duels."

They all exchanged looks.

"What if Goradon's involved?" Mai mused. "That could be why he's so hell bent on continuing the tournament. And we don't know _who _picked the cruise venue, Pegasus or the IDMTC."

"Oh man. I think we need to get back to the beach and stop Yugi's and Rebecca's duel," Joey said.

"You know what, Joey? I think you're right," Tristan agreed.

**

* * *

**

Rebecca drew and gained another seven hundred Life Points, bringing her to thirty-nine hundred while he had only four hundred. Plus she had Guardian Angel Joan on the field, while all he had was Gamma the Magnet Warrior and Gazelle King of Mythical Beasts. _I have to turn this around, _he thought bitterly.

"I summon Ruby Dragon to the field," Rebecca informed him. "Then I sacrifice it to special summon Luster Dragon from the graveyard, which I will also sacrifice to play this," she cried, revealing one of her three facedown cards to be Adamantine Sword Revival. "This allows me to summon Diamond Head Dragon, which gains all the attack points of the dragon I sacrificed for it plus adds another thousand attack points. I now have Guardian Angel Joan with twenty-eight hundred attack points and Diamond Head Dragon with twenty-nine hundred attack points and as soon as my turn ends, so do the Swords of Revealing Light!"

_I'M GOING TO WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF YOUR SNOTTY LITTLE FACE…_

_No, _his own voice fought inside his head, _no, she's my friend, it's just a game, she's playing a good game…_

_SHE IS THE ENEMY AND I WILL ANNHILATE HER! I WON'T REST UNTIL SHE IS _BLEEDING!

_No, it's only a game…_

_IT'S NEVER ONLY A GAME! SHE MUST SUFFER!_

"I'm not through yet," she added smugly. "I also play the Shallow Grave magic card to bring back Fire Princess in defense mode! Say good-bye to your Life Points on my next turn!"

Yugi's anger turned to a triumphant smile. Could she really have been so stupid? "Shallow Grave also allows me to special summon a monster from my graveyard into face-up defense mode," he grinned. _Thank you, you stupid brat. Now I don't have to wait for Monster Reborn._

He brought Beta the Magnet Warrior back onto the field in defense mode and Rebecca faltered, realizing then what she had allowed him to do. With nothing left to do, she ended her turn. Swords of Revealing Light disappeared, freeing her monsters.

But it was Yugi's turn and she'd already given him what he needed.

He drew Dark Magic Curtain and played it face down in the magic/trap card slot. It would allow him to summon Dark Magician from the graveyard. A good backup plan in case she had Mirror Force, like he suspected. Then with a wide smirk, he called out "And now I sacrifice Beta and Gamma the Magnet Warriors from the field and Alpha the Magnet Warrior from my hand to summon Valkyrion the Magna Warrior! Go, Valkyrion, attack Guardian Angel Joan!"

Rebecca was knocked backwards as Guardian Angel Joan blew apart, taking seven hundred of her Life Points with it. _No Mirror Force, at least not yet, _Yugi thought with satisfaction. But when she recovered, she did activate a trap card after all: Rope of Life.

"With Rope of Life, I bring back Guardian Angel Joan with an additional eight hundred attack points! Say good-bye to Valkyrion on my next turn!" she crowed, discarding her entire hand as the cost for playing Rope of Life.

"We'll see!" he snapped. He still had Gazelle King of Mythical Beasts, which he used to destroy Fire Princess and then he ended his turn.

She drew, played her only card face down in the magic/trap slot, took another seven hundred Life Points, bringing her back up to thirty-nine hundred, then called for Guardian Angel Joan to attack Valkyrion.

"You fell into my trap!" Yugi cried, revealing his own Mirror Force card. It destroyed every monster in attack position on her side of the field leaving only two facedown cards, the second of which might yet be her Mirror Force, plus Solemn Wishes to defend her Life Points.

"You son of a—"

"Becky!" Duke interrupted her sharply, making Yugi laugh. Her turn was over.

With no monsters on the field and nothing in her hand, she was in trouble, even with her high Life Points. Then again, Yugi had nothing in his hand, either. He drew Soul Release. Perfect! "I play Soul Release, removing up to five monsters in your graveyard from play. Say good-bye to Marie the Fallen One, Guardian Angel Joan, Diamond Head Dragon, Fire Princess, and Luster Dragon. No more pumping up your Life Points every turn," he gloated. "Not that you'll _get _another turn. Valkyrion, attack her Life Points directly!"

"Activate Mirror Force!" she cried, and Valkyrion and Gazelle were both destroyed. "And I still have Solemn Wishes!"

It was what he'd expected, but he still seethed with rage. All that work to summon Valkyrion… His jaw clenched, he ended his turn.

"Come on, Rebecca! You can do it," Mokuba cheered.

Ignoring him, Rebecca drew, took five hundred more Life Points from Solemn Wishes, bringing her to forty-four hundred and with a scowl, passed.

Yugi drew Card of Sanctity. Playing it was a risk; it would allow him to draw until his hand had six cards, but would also allow her to do the same. Still, he had the advantage in all but Life Points, thanks to his Dark Magic Curtain. He played Card of Sanctity and drew six cards, while Rebecca drew five to add to the one she already had and increased her Life Points another five hundred. He looked at his new hand. Remove Trap, Monster Reborn, Dust Tornado, Curse of Dragon, Reduction Barrier, and Magician of Faith. _Monster Reborn! _he thought with elation. Between that and Dark Magic Curtain, he was set. And Remove Trap would get rid of Solemn Wishes, too. First he needed to normal summon a monster. The only one he had was Magician of Faith, a week card but one with an interesting special effect. He reached for it, then faltered, remembering how this card had come to be in his deck in the first place.

Téa had given it to him to play against Bakura in what had turned out to be his first Shadow Game against the Spirit of the Millennium Ring. She, Joey, and Tristan had each given him cards that they felt represented themselves and she'd chosen the Magician of Faith. When Bakura had activated his Millennium Ring, he'd trapped each of their souls in their chosen cards and all four of them ended up on the field. Though Téa now identified herself more with Dark Magician Girl than Magician of Faith, he still thought of her whenever he saw this card.

_Téa…_

_TEA? WHAT ABOUT TEA? SHE'S OFF LOOKING FOR THE MILLENNIUM PUZZLE AND _HIM. _I'M JUST _HIS_ LEFTOVERS. WHO NEEDS IT? I DON'T NEED HER!_

_No, not Téa, I _do _need her, I—_

_SHE'S WEAK! SHE DOESN'T EVEN DUEL! CRUSH HER WITH THE REST OF THEM!_

_But I love—_

_I LOVE POWER, THAT'S WHAT I LOVE!_

"Are you gonna play or not?" Rebecca called out, drumming her fingers impatiently. "Get on with your turn so I can slaughter you and move on to the semi-finals!"

"Not likely," he spat. "I set one monster in facedown defense position," he told her, putting Magician of Faith into his duel disk without thinking further of Téa, "and play two facedown cards," he added, putting Reduction Barrier and Dust Tornado into the magic/trap slots. "And finally, I play Remove Trap to destroy your Solemn Wishes and Monster Reborn to bring back Valkyrion the Magna Warrior in attack mode! Attack her Life Points directly!"

"I activate Gravity Bind!" she countered, revealing her one remaining facedown card. It was a permanent trap that prevented all monsters level four and higher from attacking. No matter, he could get rid of it on his next turn with Dust Tornado.

"I end my turn," he finished.

She drew, set one facedown card, then played Silent Dead to bring Ruby Dragon back to the field in defense mode, and last summoned Sangan in attack mode. "Sangan, attack his facedown monster!" she ordered, and Sangan destroyed Magician of Faith.

_Téa!_ Yugi thought irrationally, then shook his head. It didn't matter. "By attacking Magician of Faith, you activated her Flip effect," he called out. "I can now return one spell card from the graveyard to my hand." He chose Monster Reborn just in case she had a way to get rid of one of his monsters. Rebecca ended her turn and Yugi drew Metorain. _Perfect!_

"I activate Dust Tornado to destroy Gravity Bind," he declared, "and I activate Dark Magic Curtain, paying half my Life Points to do so." They dropped to two hundred. "This allows me to special summon Dark Magician from my graveyard. Then I'll play one facedown card," he added, slipping Metorain into the magic/trap slot on his duel disk. "Now Dark Magician, attack Ruby Dragon!" He did so, and Ruby Dragon was destroyed. "And Valkyrion, attack Sangan!" Rebecca put her arm up against the onslaught as Valkyrion obliterated Sangan along with twenty-five hundred of her Life Points, bringing her down to twenty-four hundred. This activated Sangan's special ability, which allowed her to choose a monster with fifteen hundred or less attack points from her deck and add it to her hand, provided she show Yugi which card she chose first. She selected Canon Soldier and added it to her hand. Yugi ended his turn.

Rebecca drew, then played Tribute of Decedent, discarding one card from her hand to do so. "Tribute of Decedent allows me to destroy one of your monsters, and I choose Valkyrion!"

Yugi winced as Valkyrion disappeared.

"Next I play Injection Fairy Lily and activate the trap card Ultimate Offering. At the cost of five hundred Life Points per monster, I can summon extra monsters to the field per turn. I tribute Injection Fairy Lily and summon two cards in facedown defense mode." Her Life Points diminished by a thousand down to fourteen hundred and she ended her turn.

Yugi frowned. One of her monsters must have powerful defense points if it required a tribute to summon it. _Her Millennium Shield, _he thought, his frown becoming a grin. _It has three thousand defense points! The other is probably Canon Soldier, with only twelve hundred defense points. With my Life Points down to two hundred, she's hoping I'll attack the wrong one with Dark Magician and I'll lose. But I have another plan._

With a wicked smile, Yugi drew one last time. He didn't even look at his card; it didn't matter. This duel was over.

"First, I activate Metorain, which will give your Life Points battle damage if your defense position monsters are destroyed. Then I play Monster Reborn to bring back Valkyrion the Magna Warrior, which will attack your facedown card on the left!"

Valkyrion attacked and it was, indeed, Millennium Shield. Valkyrion, however, was five hundred points stronger and Rebecca's Life Points lowered to nine hundred. "And now, Dark Magician, attack her other facedown card!"

Dark Magician attacked, destroying Canon Soldier and throwing Rebecca backwards as her Life Points went down to zero. Yugi felt a surge of satisfaction as he saw that the attack knocked the breath out of her. _These are no ordinary holograms. They're infused with the Shadow Realm, _he thought. _More power…_

"It's over!" he heard someone call behind him, and turned to see Serenity heading onto the field toward him. She grabbed his arm, but he wasn't interested in her playing nursemaid to him and he wrenched his arm free, knocking her off balance.

"Serenity!" Duke called out. He'd been heading for Rebecca, but changed track in an instant, grabbing Serenity and yanking her out of Yugi's way. He then grabbed Yugi's shoulders and shook him. "Snap out of it, man, the duel's over!"

Yugi shoved Duke backwards. "Would all of you insufferable morons keep out of this!" Yugi snapped. He saw Rebecca across the field getting to her feet, her face a mask of rage. "This is between me and the little girl and you're not her big brother!" he shouted, though he was looking past Duke to Rebecca. He covered his mouth with his hand in mock horror as if he'd made a blunder. "Oops, I forgot, you don't _have _a big brother any more, do you, _Becky?_" He clucked his tongue, feigning pity. "You don't still believe in guardian angels, do you?"

_No! She told me that in confidence…_

_JUST GOES TO SHOW YOU WHAT A FOOL SHE IS._

She charged at him, snarling in fury. "You watch your mouth, you—"

"Becky!" Duke called out, intervening once more. He grabbed Rebecca and swung her around, her momentum pulling both of them in a circle away from Yugi and into the group of people watching, which parted quickly. The referee tried to get involved, but Yugi sidestepped him and moved toward Rebecca.

"Do you think you can destroy my Valkyrion not once but _twice _and get away with it?" he seethed, his ambivalence gone in a flash.

More people were on the field. Mokuba Kaiba put himself in between Yugi and Rebecca. "Yugi, the duel's over, stop!" he cried, but if Yugi wasn't going to take it from Duke or the referee, he certainly wasn't going to take it from a spoiled rich brat like Mokuba Kaiba.

"This doesn't concern you, either, you snot-nosed whiny piece of trash!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

A hand clapped down on his shoulder. Yugi whirled around to find Seto Kaiba towering over him. "Whatever your problem is, Yugi, it ends NOW."

"And you, Kaiba, I'm so sick of your lording it over everyone! STAY OUT OF THIS!" He pulled himself out of Kaiba's grasp and held up his duel disk in front of him, which still had Valkyrion and Dark Magician poised to attack. Kaiba was going to regret crossing him when he was blown off his feet by two Shadow-infused high-powered monsters.

"I don't think so!" Kaiba snarled, then with a swift move from his left arm, brought his own duel disk down on the back of Yugi's head with a loud crack.

Yugi collapsed to his knees, and as the world faded to black, he heard someone in the distance scream his name.


	15. Aftermath

**15. Aftermath**

It was slow going back to the beach from the cave, with Tristan and Joey stopping every few minutes to trade duties of carrying Pegasus. Téa was tempted to run ahead and just leave them behind, so pressing was her urge to get back to Yugi and Rebecca's duel, but she resisted, knowing that if things were going badly, she wouldn't be in much position to do anything more than the people that were already there anyway.

Finally they could see Duel Monster holograms through the trees. Téa thought she saw Dark Magician and another monster that looked like one of Yugi's cards, but she couldn't place the name. They emerged from the trees at the opposite end of the beach from the duel just in time to see the monster she couldn't remember the name of attack a face down card that turned into some sort of red and gold shield with… was that an Eye of Horus on it? She couldn't tell before it disintegrated. Dark Magician then attacked a second facedown card that turned into some kind of robot with a huge gun turret for a head before it, too, exploded and disappeared.

"Looks like Yugi's winning," Téa commented, picking up her pace.

"Hey, what's going on?" Tristan asked suddenly, panting under Pegasus's weight. "Looks like some sort of commotion."

"That can't be good," Joey said.

Abruptly, the crowd parted and Téa saw Duke swing Rebecca around in a circle. Then her heart jumped into her chest as she saw Yugi, looking furious, dodge the ref and move threateningly toward Rebecca.

"Definitely not good," Joey repeated, and he and Téa took off at a dead run.

"Yugi!" Téa called out, but no one seemed to hear her over the commotion. Mokuba jumped into the fray, positioning himself between Yugi and Rebecca, and Kaiba came up behind Yugi, clapping his hand down on Yugi's shoulder. Yugi whirled around, breaking free from Kaiba's grasp, shouted something at him, then brought his duel disk up like he was going to call an attack.

She was almost at the edge of the cluster of people surrounding the dueling area, Joey at her heels, when to her horror, Kaiba raised his left arm and brought his duel disk crashing down on the back of Yugi's head.

"YUGI!" she screamed as he crumpled to the ground. Joey gasped beside her.

It was pandemonium as Téa pushed past several people trying to get to the middle. She saw Serenity at Yugi's side and remembered with some relief that she had some EMT training. Rebecca was nearby, straining to get to Yugi, but Duke was holding her back. Nelson and Goradon were all over Kaiba, arguing with him. Finally making it through everyone, Téa slid to her knees in the sand at Yugi's side while Joey launched himself at Kaiba. Téa blocked out the din above her, concentrating only on Yugi.

"Yugi!" Téa cried a third time, stroking his face. His expression changed under her touch, became more peaceful, and that alarmed her. _Don't people look peaceful when they're about to die? _she thought wildly. She looked at Serenity and choked out, "Is he okay?"

"I think so," her friend nodded. "He probably just has a concussion. I don't think Kaiba hit him _that _hard."

"What was he _thinking _hitting Yugi with his _duel disk?" _Téa spat, furious. "He wasn't in the duel; he has no excuse!"

Serenity reached across Yugi and put her hand on Téa's arm. "Téa, I think he did the right thing. You… you didn't see what was going on. Yugi… he was out of control, lashing out at everyone. And it didn't stop when the duel ended. He almost knocked me over, he shoved Duke, said some _awful _things to Rebecca and was about to attack Kaiba with his monsters."

"He didn't go back to normal when it ended?"

Serenity shook her head.

"Oh Yugi, you should never have dueled, I knew this was a bad idea," she moaned, taking his hand. _This is my fault. All my fault. If I'd have been more concerned last night with what's going on here instead of making out, we wouldn't have forgotten, we could've gone back right then with better flashlights and found the stone tablets in the cave and this duel would never have happened._

A lot of things seemed to be happening all at once around her. Harrison, the purser who used to be a navy medic, appeared at Yugi's side and confirmed Serenity's opinion that Yugi would probably be fine. Tristan and Mai arrived, and Tristan explained to Harrison about Pegasus, whom they'd left lying on the beach.

"Listen Wheeler, he attacked your own sister!" she heard Kaiba say, and Téa looked up then to see Joey blanche, suddenly caught between the conflicting loyalties to his sister and his best friend. Serenity heard it, too, and jumped up to deny that Yugi had _attacked_ her, softening the description by explaining that he had merely pulled away from her and knocked her aside by accident.

"But Joey, I think Kaiba did do what he had to do. Yugi didn't stop when the duel was over."

Téa stopped listening when Goradon and Nelson started discussing whether or not anyone should be disqualified from the tournament. Croquet, apparently, had gone with Harrison to tend to Pegasus. At some point Evan Haines, Amy Burns, and the two other crewmembers—all but Harrison, who had apparently gone to see about Pegasus—joined the fray, demanding that they stop the entire tournament if it was going to cause fights like this, but Téa tuned them out once more, intent only on Yugi. _Wake up. Come on, wake up._

"He okay?" she heard a voice ask and looked up from Yugi to see Mai kneeling with her.

"I think so," Téa said dully.

As if to confirm that assessment, he started to stir. His eyes fluttered a little and he groaned weakly, "Téa?"

"Yugi?" she asked, then suddenly found herself being hauled up by the back of her jacket. She turned to find Tristan and Joey on either side of her, pulling her away. Mai got up and backed away of her own accord, but Téa struggled against her two friends. "What are you _doing? _ Let me _go!"_

"Nothin' doin', not until we know he's himself again," Joey told her firmly.

"Téa?" Yugi mumbled again, then his eyes opened completely. Something like horror darkened his features and he sat up quickly. _"Rebecca_—OW!" he cried out, rubbing the back of his head. He looked around wildly, past Téa to where Duke and Mokuba were still holding Rebecca back.

"I'm okay, Yugi," she called back, her voice tremulous.

Téa watched as his eyes met the younger duelist's, his face a mask of pain. "Oh Rebecca! What did I _do?_ How could I…?" He buried his face his hands.

"It's okay, Yugi, it wasn't you, I know it wasn't you. We were both out of it," she said.

"Let _go _of me!" Téa grunted, pulling free from Tristan and Joey and sinking back to her knees to wrap her arms around Yugi. "It's okay," she soothed. "It's over."

"No, no it's _not_ okay," he said vehemently, jerking his head up and pulling away from her. "You didn't hear what I said. Why couldn't I stop? The duel was over! Why didn't I stop?"

Now Rebecca pulled free from Duke and Mokuba and came to kneel beside him as well. Téa expected to be pushed aside, but instead Rebecca simply knelt next to her and stretched out one hand to Yugi's arm.

"It's okay, Yugi. Really. I'm fine."

"Rebecca. I'm so sorry. I couldn't stop. I don't know why I couldn't stop."

"I know."

He closed his eyes, struggling to accept the forgiveness she was offering and Téa still didn't know what she had to forgive him for. When he opened his eyes again, he looked at the crowd around him self-consciously. "What happened? How did I end up on the ground?"

"Kaiba clocked you with his duel disk," Duke informed him.

Yugi got to his feet, rubbing the back of his head. Téa and Rebecca rose with him. He turned and faced Kaiba, who was standing in a cluster of the ship's crew and tournament officials.

"Thank you, Kaiba," he said solemnly with a nod of his head.

Kaiba's eyes glinted and he smirked at Yugi. "It was my pleasure, believe me,"

"Watch it, rich boy," Joey growled, but Yugi held up his hand to stop him. Then he turned back to face Goradon and Croquet.

"No more," he said firmly, and Téa thought instantly of the Pharaoh. "This tournament ends _now. _At least until we get back to San Francisco."

Goradon opened his mouth to protest, but Evan cut him off. "Absolutely. This was a bad idea from the get-go. No more dueling, not while I'm in charge."

"And who exactly _said _you were in charge?" Goradon shot back. _"I _am the International Duel Monsters Tournament Commission President. _I _decide when this tournament ends. Not you, and certainly not any of the competitors," he finished, glaring at Yugi.

"We'll see," Yugi replied.

"The semi-finals will be tomorrow. Yugi Mutou versus Mai Valentine and Seto Kaiba versus Joey Wheeler," Goradon went on. Yugi said nothing.

Seeming to believe he'd won again, Goradon walked away. With the commotion over, everyone else started to drift off, too, and Téa went back to Yugi's side. "Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

He looked at her a little shamefaced and nodded. She wanted to give him a hug, but he seemed a little unapproachable, like he was too angry with himself to accept much comfort. Instead, she settled for putting a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her and gave her a small smile, putting his own hand on top of hers gratefully.

"Yuge, we've got bigger problems than this duel," Joey said, and suddenly Téa remembered why they'd come rushing back.

"What is it? Did you find Weevil and the Millennium Puzzle?"

"No, but we did find Pegasus. He was unconscious and looked like he'd lost an argument with a vampire bat. And he had the Millennium Eye, or at least a fake one," Joey told him.

"And that's not the half of it," Tristan added. "You aren't going to believe what else we found."

**

* * *

**

By the time Joey, Tristan, Téa, and Mai finished relating the story of what they'd found in the cave to Yugi, Duke, Rebecca, Serenity, Kaiba, and Mokuba, Harrison had already moved Pegasus to one of the caves they were using for shelter by their campsite and was examining him there under the watchful eye of Croquet, Goradon, and Evan. When the ten of them arrived to see how Pegasus was, Evan tried to send them away, but Croquet insisted that whatever happened to Pegasus concerned them and Evan reluctantly allowed them admittance. Serenity immediately went to Pegasus's side and asked Harrison if she could help.

"How is he?" Yugi asked Harrison, taken aback by Pegasus's extremely pale face.

"I'm not sure," Harrison grimaced. "I'm just a medic, not a doctor. He's unconscious and unresponsive, but he's breathing okay and has a strong pulse. There are no wounds or anything indicating a wild animal of some sort attacked him or anything like that. He's looking really anemic, though, like he lost a lot of blood, but with no visible wounds, I can't figure out what did this to him."

"I'm guessing a Great Moth or Horned Saurus," Joey muttered under his breath.

"Do you know what happened to him?" Harrison asked, looking up at Joey.

"No," Joey said hesitantly. "We just found him like that."

Evan turned to Joey. "Now I want to know exactly what the hell is going on here. Where did you find him?"

"In a cave," Joey answered.

"What cave? Where? And what were you doing there?"

Joey looked to Yugi, who stepped in. "They went looking for Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood. They'd been hoarding food in a cave in the woods. Téa and I found them stockpiling some of our MREs and other rations last night."

"And you didn't say anything?"

"They told Mr. Pegasus last night," Croquet interjected smoothly. "He went after them this morning."

Yugi shifted uncomfortably, not caring for the lie, but trying to explain the truth to someone who had never experienced a Shadow Game would needlessly waste time.

Evan's gaze shifted from Yugi to Croquet and back to Yugi. "You told _Pegasus?_ Listen, Mr. Mutou, _I _am the highest-ranking officer of the ship's crew among our group. That makes _me _the one in charge. You find out someone's stealing rations or beating up on other passengers, you tell _me."_

"With all due respect, you may be the highest-ranking ship's officer, but we aren't on the ship anymore. We _are _at a Duel Monster's tournament and Pegasus is the host. That makes _him _the highest ranking one here."

"No, that would be _me," _Goradon protested angrily, "and I really wish you'd remember that, Mr. Mutou. While I appreciate that you are the reigning World Champion—one of the reigning World Champions," he amended when Kaiba cleared his throat loudly, "I am a little tired of you behaving as if this tournament is for _your _benefit. _I _am in charge here and I would kindly request that you remember that."

Yugi eyed Goradon and crossed his arms, suddenly feeling every bit the Pharaoh. It wasn't like before, when he could feel a switch and someone else taking over. It was more like reaching into himself, into the part of himself that remembered the memories from his other self. "Oh really? Then I have a question for you, Mr. Goradon. Who chose this venue for our tournament?"

"What?" Goradon asked. "We were _shipwrecked _here."

"Well obviously, and we'll get to that in a moment, but what I want to know is, who decided on an Alaskan cruise? Was that Pegasus or was it you?"

"I don't see that it's any of your concern!" Goradon barked, and Yugi could see that he was starting to sweat.

"Mr. Goradon," Yugi grinned condescendingly, clucking his tongue and wagging his head. "As the president of a gaming tournament commission, you really should know that if you want to pull off a convincing bluff, you can't let your opponent see you sweat. Now I'm asking again, _who chose the venue for this tournament?"_

"I… this is _outrageous!"_ Goradon shouted. "You have been trying to interfere with this tournament ever since we got here. Frankly, I expected better from you. You had such a good reputation. I cannot for the life of me understand why you would behave like such a coward, but clearly this is just another distraction, another way to try and derail the tournament."

"The tournament has already been derailed," Yugi said firmly, ignoring the "coward" bait.

"That is not your decision, and I've already called this bluff once, Mr. Mutou!"

"I assure you this is no bluff," Yugi replied.

"You can't finish your tournament if none of your finalists will compete," Mai Valentine said, stepping up beside Yugi. "I won't compete as long as we are on this island."

"Me neither," Joey added.

Kaiba remained conspicuously silent.

"Then you all forfeit and Mr. Kaiba will be declared the winner!"

"Is that really how you want to end this tournament? Is that the publicity you want for the IDMTC and the game of Duel Monsters?" Yugi asked. "And you still haven't answered my question as to who chose the venue, so who is trying to distract whom?"

"Just who do you think you are?" Goradon sputtered shrilly, his face red. "You think because you have a title you have some sort of _power _over me? You're just a punk college kid from a nothing town in Japan!"

"_He _may be just a punk college kid from a nothing town in Japan, but _I'm _the CEO of a very powerful international corporation, Mr. Goradon, and one that has direct ties to the IDMTC, too, and _I _for one am very curious to hear the answers to Yugi's question," Kaiba interjected darkly. "And for the record, I will not accept a tournament title by forfeit. I think we can consider this tournament postponed for the time being. Now answer the question."

"Who chose the venue?" Yugi repeated in case Goradon forgot.

"That was the Tournament Commission," Croquet answered at last when Goradon wouldn't. "When Mr. Pegasus went to the commission saying he wanted to host a Duel Monster's Tournament, his original proposal was for a Duelist Kingdom II."

Yugi looked at Croquet skeptically. "Duelist Kingdom II? It's my understanding that Pegasus wanted to keep his involvement in this tournament a complete secret. If it were to be held on his own private island, it would have been obvious to everyone that he was the host."

"Yes, but only Mr. Pegasus, myself, and the officers of the IDMTC knew the location. It was to be billed as an Asian cruise that would depart from Hiroshima, with ports of call in Hong Kong and China. Only after everyone was on board would the real destination be revealed."

"You mean he was going to bring us to Duelist Kingdom without us knowing it in advance?" Téa protested.

"And this surprises you how, Téa?" Kaiba said coolly. "This is _Pegasus _we're talking about."

"How did the venue get changed?" Yugi asked, steering them back on track.

"About a week after the initial proposal was accepted, Mr. Goradon came back to Mr. Pegasus and said that the Tournament Commission had already been working on a Duel at Sea Alaskan cruise and that they felt it wouldn't work to have two tournaments on cruise ships. If Mr. Pegasus wanted to hold his tournament this spring, it would have to be on the Alaskan cruise venue."

"And Pegasus agreed to this?" Yugi queried Croquet. "He's not exactly someone easily maneuvered."

"No," Croquet agreed, "but he was starting to worry about leaks and rethink the Duelist Kingdom venue anyway. He was very worried about being connected to the tournament in advance. And of course he found the irony of the ship's name amusing."

Yugi gave Croquet a blank look, but Téa and Rebecca both groaned together.

"What?" Yugi asked.

"I can't believe I didn't think of it before," Téa sighed.

"Chrysaor is from Greek mythology," Rebecca explained. "He's the brother of the winged horse, Pegasus."

Yugi rolled his eyes then looked back at Croquet. "So he accepted Mr. Goradon's terms."

"Yes."

Swinging his gaze back to Goradon, Yugi thought he looked even more nervous. "Then it's back to you, Mr. Goradon. Why an Alaskan cruise venue?"

"Why not?" he replied, his arms folded but his fingers drumming nervously on them.

"Well, let's do a recap of the events that have happened since we boarded the ship Saturday afternoon. Before we set sail at six PM on Saturday evening, there was a muster drill. At that time, not only were the passengers given an explanation of evacuation procedures, but the lifeboats were checked for readiness, including provisions, supplies, and fuel. Is that correct, Evan?"

"Yes, that's all part of the muster drill before we leave port," Evan confirmed.

"And everything was in order?"

"Of course. We wouldn't have set sail otherwise."

"Then sometime Monday evening, the navigational instruments in the bridge had been tampered with, setting us off course. Communications were also sabotaged, along with the lifeboat radios, search-and-rescue transponders, and position-indicating beacons, correct?"

"Yes, we discovered the navigational and communications problems at about one-thirty Tuesday morning," Evan told him. "We didn't discover the problems with the lifeboats until we evacuated the ship. That's also when we discovered they were low on fuel."

"So we were off course for an unknown length of time, had no way of finding our location or radioing for help, and the lifeboats did not have enough fuel to go very far, but by some miracle, we located this island and had just the right amount of fuel to get us here safely, but not enough to get us off again. Quite a coincidence, Mr. Goradon, wouldn't you say?"

"What are you getting at, Mr. Mutou?" Evan asked. "Because if you have any accusations to make about the sabotaging of our ship and lifeboats, then you are definitely in _my _area of authority."

"What I'm getting at is that it seems like such a strange string of events to lead us exactly to this spot."

"Why? Is there something special about this island?"

"Not just this island, this _spot," _Yugi answered Evan, but was still looking at Goradon. "And Mr. Goradon, tell me again how it is that all sixteen of the remaining duelists ended up together, separated from the rest of our shipmates by a landslide that may or may not have been an accident, on this side of the island near _that _cave."

"What cave?" Goradon sputtered. "I have no idea what you're talking about! I didn't arrange for us all to come over here, that was _his _idea!" he cried, pointing at Evan, "and I certainly had nothing to do with that landslide! I was walking with Pegasus and Croquet when that happened!"

"That's true," Croquet confirmed.

"Listen, Mr. Mutou, I'm getting tired of taking the long way around here. Are you insinuating that Mr. Goradon had something to do with us being here or aren't you?" Evan demanded.

"Ask him," Yugi replied flatly.

"I… this is _outrageous!_ I had nothing to do with sabotaging the ship. I was _on _the ship! Why would I try and sink a ship I was _on?_ And I certainly didn't have anything to do with that landslide or us being separated on this side of the island, not that I have the _foggiest _idea why that matters."

"Then just tell me why this venue?"

He looked like he was going to refuse until Kaiba took a menacing step in his direction.

"Oh, all right! I was _bribed."_


	16. The Search Party

**16. The Search Party**

"You were _bribed_?" Kaiba roared. "By _whom?"_

Yugi looked angrily at Goradon, waiting for an answer.

"I don't know! I swear I don't! A few days after Pegasus and I made the original agreement, I got a phone call requesting a private meeting to discuss the tournament. I'd assumed it was someone from Industrial Illusions, but when he showed up, he offered me five hundred thousand dollars to use this cruise line for the tournament venue. I assume it was someone from the cruise line."

"Our company is not in the habit of bribing people to get business!" Evan protested. "Our Alaskan cruises are very popular. We certainly didn't need to take on a charter at less than capacity!"

"Your company is making _plenty _on this deal!" Goradon retorted.

"Not so much to make it worth paying off one person _five hundred thousand dollars!"_ Evan shot back.

"Who was it who met with you?" Yugi asked.

"I have no idea! It was a man I'd never seen before in my life and never saw since. He paid me half the money on the spot, and after the contracts were signed with the cruise line, I received a package by courier with the rest."

"You weren't suspicious at such a large sum of money for such a small thing as a Duel Monsters tournament venue?"

"Suspicious of _what?_ You don't honestly think it occurred to me that someone would want to try and _blow up _a ship full of _gamers!"_

"What about the island and the cave? Did you know we were being deliberately brought here?"

"Of course not! I told you, I wouldn't have come on the ship if I'd have known it was going to sink. I didn't know this island even existed until we got here and I _still _don't know what cave you keep going on about!"

"Who knew that Pegasus wanted to host a tournament?" Yugi changed tracks swiftly.

"Croquet already told you, just him, Pegasus, me, and the other IDMTC officers."

"How many officers are there?"

"Five including myself."

"Did you tell anyone about Pegasus's involvement?"

"No!"

"And you weren't suspicious that this mystery visitor knew about it?"

"He didn't say he knew about Pegasus's involvement, just that he knew there was a tournament coming and he wanted it to be on an Alaskan cruise. That's it, I swear it!"

"What about Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood?"

"What _about _them? I don't know anything about them!"

"Why were they even invited?" Kaiba demanded. "They aren't exactly the caliber of duelist you would expect at an international championship, not anymore."

"I had nothing to do with who was invited, that was Pegasus's job! He issued all the invitations and did all the seeding into the separate divisions."

Yugi looked at Croquet for confirmation.

"It's true, Mr. Pegasus made all the decisions about competitors."

"Why Rex and Weevil, then?"

Croquet shrugged. "I think it amused him. They were among the best in the game until Duelist Kingdom when Weevil lost to you in the first duel and Rex lost to Mr. Wheeler not long after that. They've been going downhill fast ever since then. Pegasus thought it entertaining to pit them against you two again, for old time's sake. That's why they were seeded against you both in the first round."

"Well, I hope he's satisfied with the price he paid for his little joke," Kaiba barked, looking over at Pegasus, still lying unconscious on the floor with Harrison and Serenity beside him.

"Whatever Rex and Weevil's involvement, they didn't blow up the ship," Yugi stated, surprising even himself with his own conviction. Yet, he knew it to be true. Everything was linked, but the sinking of the ship was not Rex and Weevil. "They wouldn't be able to pull off such a complicated sabotage." His eyes swept back to Goradon.

"_I _wouldn't know how to sabotage the ship either!" he protested.

"I didn't say you would," Yugi said serenely.

"Then stop questioning me like I'm some common criminal!"

"Last I checked, accepting bribes _was _a crime," Kaiba said, towering over Goradon, his face a mask of fury. "If you know anything about who blew up the ship and _why we're here,_ you'd better say something _now."_

"I have no idea!" he cried fearfully, "I don't! Why would I put my own life in danger for a _gaming tournament?_ Not even five hundred thousand dollars is worth this!"

"Why don't I believe you?" Kaiba growled.

"Kaiba," Yugi placated him, "I don't think we'll get any further with him. We need to find our answers back at that cave."

"Hold on, hold on," Evan said, putting his hands up. "This is a little too big for a bunch of gamers to take on. What we need to do is for you to tell me where you found Mr. Pegasus so we can start searching for the two men that you say did this to him. We—and by _we _I mean myself and my fellow crew mates—" he added, nodding his head toward Harrison, still kneeling beside Pegasus, _"We _will keep the two of them in custody and then after we are rescued we will report them and Mr. Goradon to the appropriate authorities. Our only concern here is _keeping everyone safe _and _getting off this island._ This is not a game!"

Yugi shook his head. "That's where you're wrong. It is absolutely a game. To Rex and Weevil, it's _all _about the game. That's why the only ones who can find them and bring them back are those of us who play the game."

Evan gave him an incredulous look. "You're comparing _terrorism _to a _card game?"_

"No. We're talking about two separate things here. Rex and Weevil did not sink the ship," he reiterated. "They have a grudge against Pegasus and against me and Joey and that's why _we _have to find them. But the ship sinking is a separate thing."

"So you think you should come with us to search for them?" Evan demanded.

"No, I think we should go alone. You have enough responsibilities here with the other passengers. Rex and Weevil are _my _responsibility."

"Because of a _game?"_

"Because they see themselves as our rivals," Yugi replied, nodding to Joey. "Listen, Evan, they're not terrorists. They're a couple of teenagers who hit their prime when they were fourteen or fifteen and are already has-beens at nineteen and twenty and they resent it. They resent _us._ So only _we _can take care of it."

"But you think that we were brought to this island deliberately because of something you found in this cave where your friends found Mr. Pegasus?"

Yugi exhaled slowly. How could he possibly begin to explain the connection to someone who not only knew nothing of the Shadow Realm but didn't even play Duel Monsters? The connections to the Egyptian tablets the others had found in that cave were even harder to explain.

"This cave," Yugi began. "Apparently someone has put up some stone tablets with Egyptian hieroglyphics on them. Several of us spent some time in Egypt a couple of years ago, and I'm an Egyptology student. Rebecca's grandfather is an archaeologist," he said, nodding in Rebecca's direction. "The game of Duel Monsters itself is based on a game ancient Egyptians played, using their mythology. Rex and Weevil somehow ended up in this same cave. It's all too many coincidences. We need to go there and figure out what it all means."

"You think this was done for _your_ benefit?" Evan asked, incredulous. "'Cause I always got the impression that Kaiba was the one who thought he was the center of the universe, not you."

Kaiba snorted. "You'd be surprised."

Yugi ignored Kaiba. "Rex and Weevil attacked Pegasus to get _my _attention. And _someone _obviously made some very careful plans to bring us here. Neither Rex Raptor nor Weevil Underwood are that someone. As Mr. Goradon said himself, the selection process for duelists was handled separately from the travel arrangements. It's all connected, Evan, and my friends and I are the once who can figure it out. We need to be the ones to go after them."

"Do you honestly expect me to trust you after the way you behaved in that game back there?"

Before Yugi could even open his mouth to reply—not that he knew what to say to that, anyway—Rebecca jumped to his defense.

"Oh come on, it's a role-playing game! On the field we are enemy warriors summoning monsters and magicians to do battle on our behalf. Sometimes we get carried away, but what happens on the field stays on the field. It's not who we are off the field," she said, looking directly at Yugi, "we all know that."

Guilt washed over him over how he had treated her, what he had said about her brother, but he recognized the message she was giving him and uncrossing his arms and placing one hand on her shoulder, nodded to her in gratitude.

Evan considered a moment, then surprised Yugi by looking to Mai. "Mai, I want your opinion on this. Does this guy know what he's talking about?"

Mai looked a little taken aback by the sudden question directed at her and Joey's face hardened into a scowl, but he kept silent.

"Yes," Mai answered firmly. "I know it sounds fantastic, Evan, but this Egyptian stuff is pretty weird and Yugi is the expert. If anyone can figure out what it all means, he's the guy."

"Okay, okay," he said at last. "I'm gonna let you guys form a search party to check out that cave and find those two. But I'm going with you."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Yugi replied.

"And I don't think sending you all off on your own is a good idea. Whether or not they were involved with the sabotage of the ship, they _were _involved, or so it seems, in hurting one of the passengers. That makes them _my _responsibility. If you think you can find them and that they're looking to make this some sort of gaming challenge, fine, but you aren't going after them without me."

Yugi considered this. When things started to get weird—and Yugi had no doubt that they would—someone with no understanding of the Shadow Realm would almost certainly get in the way. But it wasn't going to do him any good to stand here and argue for another hour. At last, he gave one curt nod. "Fine. We'll go together."

"Good," Evan replied. "Now, we need to take plenty of water, some of the rations, though I think we're down pretty low thanks to those guys stealing most of it, so we need to get our food back from them, and we all need to get something to eat before we leave. Also, we'll take one flashlight for every two people. I wish we could take a couple radios, but the batteries were all dead by yesterday morning." He looked back at Harrison, still kneeling beside Pegasus. "You'll be in charge back here, understood?"

Harrison nodded.

While Evan went off to gather provisions, the rest of them met outside the cave at the campfire where Mako was already starting to cook today's catch for dinner. Yugi was headed in that direction when he felt a tug at his elbow. Turning around, he found Serenity at his side.

"Yugi, something is really wrong with Pegasus," she told him. "It's a lot like the Shadow Realm, but… different."

He cocked his head at her, startled by her certainty. "How do you know?

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I just know. When I touched his neck to check his pulse… I don't know. I just got this _feeling._ Like he's not there. Like Mai in Battle City, but not like her. It's like… I can't tell where he went."

"Are you sure he isn't just unconscious? What does Harrison say?"

"He says Pegasus has a concussion and is hoping he's not in a coma. He thinks Pegasus's pallor is weird, but…." She blew hair out of her face in frustration. "I can't explain it, Yugi, I just _know._ It's worse than the Shadow Realm."

Yugi frowned. "_Worse_ than the Shadow Realm? That can't be good."

"I know."

He nodded. "Okay. I trust your judgment. After all that time watching over Mai, maybe you've developed a sixth sense about the Shadow Realm."

She gave him a troubled look, like she didn't even completely trust her own judgment or where this feeling was coming from, but she didn't say anything more, and then he looked up at the rest of the group, the nine other Shadow Duelists gathered around him.

"I need to know who is planning on coming to the cave."

"I think you and I can handle this ourselves, Yugi," Kaiba said imperiously.

"No way, rich boy. Rex Raptor is _mine,_" Joey jumped in.

"There's much more going on than just Rex and Weevil, whatever I might have said to Evan," Yugi said to Kaiba, his voice low. "We're going to need all the help we can get."

"Fine. Then you, me, Valentine, and I _suppose _Wheeler. His dumb luck does seem to keep getting him into tournament finals even without any discernable _skills_."

Joey fumed at this, but it was Tristan who shot out a response. "Listen you stuck-up jerk, there's more to life than dueling skills. We're _all _in this together, whether we're duelists or not. Even Pegasus said we're _all _Shadow Duelists."

"This isn't a pep rally and we don't need cheerleaders," Kaiba bit back.

"Tristan's right, Kaiba. We all go," Yugi said.

"Who is 'all?'" Kaiba asked, eyes narrowed.

"Any one the ten of us Shadow Duelists that chooses to go."

"I'm definitely in," Joey said quickly, and Tristan and Téa both added "Me too."

"You aren't going anywhere without me," Mai proclaimed.

"I'm in, too," Rebecca said, quickly followed by Duke, then Serenity and Mokuba.

"Mokuba stays," Kaiba said flatly at the same time as Joey told Serenity not to come.

"Like hell, Seto! I'm going with you!"

"Uh, hello Joey, eighteen here! I can decide for myself!"

Things quickly degenerated to two arguments on either side of Yugi. As much as he would like to protect Mokuba and Serenity, or Rebecca or even Téa for that matter, he had the strong feeling that each and every one of them was important. When Joey pulled on his arm and said "Help me out here, Yuge," Yugi sighed, hating to have to disappoint his friend.

"Joey, she's right. We need her. She's the only one of us with any medical training at all, and… she seems to have some sort of sixth sense about what is a normal injury and what's the Shadow Realm. Or worse."

"Well, thanks for backing me up, _pal_," Joey responded bitterly, but Yugi put his hand on his friend's arm.

"Joey, I know you're worried about her. I'm worried about _all _of us. But we have to stick together." Then louder so that he interrupted the Kaiba brothers' quarrel, he said "Listen, all of you. We were _all _brought here for a reason. We all have different strengths and we're all going to have to work together, whether those strengths are in dueling or fighting or strategy or medical skills or just knowing how to discern the right thing to do," he said, his eyes resting on Téa's at the last comment. "Finding Rex and Weevil and the Millennium Items—real or fake—are only the beginning of something much bigger happening here. We're going into the Shadows, and we still have a huge problem in that every time we duel we aren't ourselves. It's going to take _every one of us_ to find out who is behind this and _stop the Shadow Games."_

"Oh good, yet another teamwork pep rally speech," Kaiba growled.

"He's right, Seto, and you know it," Mokuba said. "I'm going and you're not gonna stop me."

Kaiba looked at his brother coldly for a moment, then spat, "Fine."

"That goes for me, too, Joey," Serenity said to her older brother.

"Yeah, okay," he said at last. "It's not like I could stop you."

"Okay then," Yugi said, thinking of the things they needed to do to prepare. "Evan went to get water and whatever food he can scrounge from what's left of the rations. Hopefully when we find Rex and Weevil we'll find the rest of the food. We need flashlights and blankets. We've got Mai's backpack and Evan has his, and maybe Sho and Mako will loan us theirs, too. Let's get together what we can and then get something to eat before we leave. We should head out in about an hour."

**

* * *

**

While the rest of them were eating, Téa noticed Yugi slip off from the campsite alone. Concerned that today's duel had brought him back to the place he was last night, she followed him, wanting to reach out to help him, but not sure how. Whatever he had said to Rebecca during their duel was still eating away at him, and his guilt was matched by her own at being the one who had prevented them from finding the Egyptian stone carvings in the cave before the duel ever happened in the first place.

She also didn't know what to make of his sudden shift into what she thought of as full Pharaoh mode. While she was glad he was accessing the strengths he had learned from his other self, she hoped he wasn't discounting his own strengths in the process. Whatever was going to happen down in that cavern, she knew it was going to involve dueling, and she knew that it was only Yugi, not the Pharaoh, who had the power to overcome whatever darkness was eating at all of them during those duels.

She found him down at the far end of the beach, standing and looking out at the ocean.

"Yugi?" she said, coming up behind him and tentatively putting her hand on his shoulder.

He turned to look at her briefly, giving her a half smile, then covered her hand with his own just like he had after the duel.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I… I'm just worried about what happened today."

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there."

"Why?" he asked, a little bitterness creeping into his voice. "So you could see me take something personal Rebecca told me and throw it back in her face?" He shuddered. "I'm really glad you _weren't_ there."

"It's not your fault, Yugi, you know that, and so does Rebecca."

"It doesn't matter, Téa. I couldn't stop it. Not even after the duel was over. If Kaiba hadn't knocked me out…" He trailed off and Téa squeezed his shoulder. "At least when the duel ending snapped us out of it, it seemed like something we could risk, but now? How are we supposed to go into a Shadow Game if we can't come out without getting knocked unconscious first?"

"We'll figure it out," she said. She moved closer to him, intending to put her arm around him and rest her head on his shoulder, but he jerked away from her suddenly. "Yugi?" she asked, taken aback.

He looked at her, his eyes full of pain and she felt a lurch in her stomach as she knew she didn't want to hear what he was going to say next.

"Téa… I can't."

"Can't what? I was just going to put my arm around you," she said a little defensively.

"I know, I just… I can't be distracted anymore. I have to figure out what we're going to do, and I can't do that if you… if we…" he trailed off again.

Though she had been thinking the same thing herself earlier, it still stung to hear him say it. "So I'm a _distraction_?" she said, unable to keep the hurt out of her voice. _He thinks it's my fault, too_. "I thought you said I helped, that I helped keep you centered."

His eyes went round in horror. "Oh Téa, no! You do! I meant everything I said last night. I need you! But you… you're blinding right now. You eclipse everything else because all I want to do is be with you and when I am with you, I can't think of anything else and I can't let that happen right now."

She nodded, partially mollified by the intensity of his feelings for her, but still smarting from the idea that she was a _distraction, _that she had nothing of real value to offer.

"Please understand. It's not your fault, it's _mine._ I've wanted this for _so long _and it still feels so unreal. I… maybe when it isn't so new, it will be easier to find balance, but for now I can't be alone with you without everything else completely going away and I can't afford for everything else to go away."

"I understand," she said quietly. "But Yugi, don't go back to that place where you think you have to shoulder this all on your own. We're all here to help."

"I know. I was the one who said everyone needed to come, remember?"

"Yeah, but you got all Pharaoh-y back there, which is good because it means you're finding that piece of you inside, but… don't lose _Yugi _in the process. Because I have a feeling that when we go into the Shadows, it's _Yugi's_ light that we'll need to pull us back out again."

**

* * *

**

_Continued in Part Three: Into the Shadows_


End file.
